Unbound
by tromana
Summary: What if Lisbon was the wife that Jane loved and lost? Jane/Lisbon AU
1. Our New Consultant Has Arrived

**Title:** Unbound  
**Author:** tromana  
**Rating:** T  
**Characters:** Lisbon/Jane, Team  
**Summary:** What if Lisbon was the wife that Jane loved and lost?  
**Disclaimer:** Still not mine. Oh well.  
**Notes:** Very much an AU fic.

To explain the title: the company that makes my favourite Doctor Who audio plays, Big Finish, have a range called 'Doctor Who: Unbound'. This is their home for all of the Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality plays they do. The title kind of stuck and refused to let me not use it for this AU story.

Thanks go to lil smiles for being my beta for this beast (and it will be a beast). Anyway, authors notes are boring, so I'll just let you get on with reading the fic, yes?

x tromana

**Unbound**

**Part One - Our new consultant has arrived.**

"Lisbon!"

Agent Lisbon snapped her head up from her keyboard as her boss, Senior Agent Richard Hotchkiss, stormed into the bullpen. Cho shot her a sympathetic look and she smiled slightly in return. While many people recognized Hotchkiss as a brilliant agent, most were also quite terrified of his tongue. Lisbon, however, knew that there was nothing to be scared of, not really. If anything, Hotchkiss often seemed more intimidated by her than she was of him. Still, as he walked towards her, she rose to her feet and met him halfway. It was only polite, after all. Also, it amused her somewhat to see the way it unnerved him, not that she would ever dare to mention that. Whatever way she looked at it, it was still ever so slightly cruel, but it did amuse Cho and Rigsby too, so she wasn't the only one in the wrong.

"Yes, boss?" she inquired.

"Er, Minelli has informed me that our new consultant has arrived," he muttered. "If it's not a problem, could you?"

"Go fetch him for you?"

"That's if you don't mind? If not, I can send Rigsby or Cho?"

"Sure thing, boss," she replied.

She took the elevator down, and somehow felt like the whole proceeding was slightly ominous. Hotchkiss had only told them that very morning, they were due to receive a consultant. He hadn't even said what this person specialized in or why the Serious Crimes Unit specifically was receiving one. It wasn't as though they had a bad solve rate, in fact, they were one of the better units in the CBI. They'd had a few problems with staffing recently though. An agent quit after his family was threatened by a murderer and was now apparently working as an accountant somewhere and there was that rookie who just couldn't hold his stomach at a crime scene. He'd simply been reassigned to petty crimes. As the elevator doors sprang open, she decided that Hotchkiss definitely hadn't told them the full story. He was edgier than usual around her, which said something, even for him.

It didn't take her long to work out exactly who she was meant to be meeting. He was standing in a crisp, three-piece suit staring intently at the CBI bulletin board as if it was the most interesting thing in the known universe. Blond, worked out a bit and looked like he just knew that he was good looking. Exactly the kind of man Lisbon hated. She decided in that moment that she would have murdered Virgil Minelli if it wasn't illegal and wouldn't have caused severe problems with her career prospects. She sighed, approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, his face plastered with a silly grin.

"Hi," he said brightly, "I'm looking for an Agent Lisbon? I was told they'd meet me here."

"You weren't."

"I was."

"No, you weren't," she insisted. "You were looking at our bulletin board."

She stalked off again and he stood, thoroughly bemused. She spun on her heels when he didn't follow and shot him a steely glare. Hotchkiss wasn't the only one capable of those kinds of looks.

"Come on, if you're coming."

"Oh, so you _are_ Agent Lisbon, then."

She sighed. "Yes. I'm sorry, I'm a woman. You were probably expecting a man."

"Wasn't."

"Let's not start this again," she replied with narrowed eyes as they boarded the elevator. "What's your name and what do you specialize in, anyway? Toxicology?"

"Patrick Jane and I'm a psychic."

Lisbon was very relieved that she wasn't holding anything or drinking something. That could have been rather dangerous. Something could have been broken or someone could have been hurt. This was probably why Hotchkiss hadn't bothered informing them what this Jane did; they would have laughed him out of the building had he even tried. Immediately, she found herself questioning both Hotchkiss' and Minelli's sanity while she scrutinized the man standing beside her, waiting for the punch line to the joke. Instead, he just raised his eyebrows, positively daring her to either question or rebuke his statement.

As she walked off in a huff out of the elevator and towards the bullpen, Jane decided that he already liked Agent Lisbon. Not typically his type, but she was small and perfectly formed. She also had a flare in her eyes and was more than willing to argue with him, even if she didn't always realize it. Plus, even he couldn't deny just how cute she looked when wound up. She was right though, he had expected a man to welcome him, but that was only because Serious Crimes was probably the most dangerous unit to be working for. He had believed that men like Minelli wouldn't be willing to expose the fairer sex to that much danger. Two misconceptions in one day, he mused, he must be losing his touch.

Jane couldn't help but grin as she approached him again, with a weedy, balding man behind her. This was obviously the Richard Hotchkiss that Virgil Minelli told him that he would be working for, previously. He seemed disconcerted, nervous and he had a feeling that it wasn't due to himself and more the feisty little thing next to him. After he introduced himself with a firm handshake, he was certain of it. The man kept observing Agent Lisbon nervously, even while he introduced the rest of the team, a bookworm named Agent Cho, and the muscle, apparently an arson specialist called Rigsby.

"You're nervous around women, you're scared that they're always hiding something," Jane suddenly announced. "I wouldn't worry too much, Agent Lisbon here is like an open book. She likes simple pleasures like a good movie with a bottle of soda, spending time with her dog and running in the rain."

Lisbon gaped at the psychic. The civilian had just told her boss more about her personal life in a sentence than she had in the two years she had worked underneath him. Hotchkiss' hand rubbed the back of his head nervously, not quite sure what to make of Jane's revelation. He did intervene when it looked like his new consultant was on a roll and dragged him into his office to brief him on what his role would exactly entail. Lisbon simply rolled her eyes and flopped back down in her seat in front of her desk.

"That man!" she growled.

"Jane or Hotchkiss?" Rigsby inquired.

"Both. Hotchkiss needs to learn I won't bite. For God's sake, we've worked together for two years now. And as for Jane…"

"You find him creepy," Cho finished. "Is it true, what he said? That you like movies, dogs and running in the rain?"

She nodded, there was no point denying it. It wasn't as if it was terribly revealing. Most people knew little things about their work colleagues like that, so she knew she was overreacting slightly at the fact he had just spouted off all that in front of them. It was just that she was a private person, she didn't want everyone knowing inane facts from her favorite color to what time she went to bed at night, unless they absolutely had to. Lisbon picked up the case file and buried her nose in it, hoping that getting up to date with their current case would help distract and ease her mind again. She just comforted herself with the fact that this Patrick Jane was only working on a part-time contract.

"Lisbon, I'd like you and Jane to go to the Sandler place and question the victim's wife again," Hotchkiss announced. "I think Jane could be useful there, he might be able to do a psychic reading on her."

Lisbon sighed heavily and both Rigsby and Cho shot her sympathetic glances. Despite the fact that they only discussed it briefly, they knew just how much Patrick Jane had rattled her. What she needed was to have a quiet afternoon in the office, not to be goaded by a man who she obviously disliked already.

"Yes, boss, I'll just grab my jacket and we'll be off," Lisbon replied, before turning to face Jane. "Now look here, you. No funny business, no winding up suspects or victims. We just do our job and then we get the hell out of there. Got it?"

"Of course," he grinned. As she stalked off to fetch her jacket he called after her. "Hey Agent Lisbon, you know what they say about short people? Explosive. I bet you're a demon in…"

"Enough!" she snapped, cheeks flaring a bright red. This was going to be a long day.

**TBC...**


	2. Just Lisbon Will Do

**A/N: **Thanks to Penelope Louise, Divinia Serit, dizzy - in - the - izzy, lalez, kathiann, Vinnie K., and NellieTheItalian for reviewing Part One. There will be some fluffy moments, I promise... but my plot bunnies seem to exist for angst so there will be plenty of that, eventually.

Thanks also go to lil smiles, for being an awesome beta and putting up with me. Like always.

x tromana

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**Part Two - Just Lisbon will do.**

Lisbon crossed her arms and leaned up against the SUV while she waited for Jane. She sighed heavily and decided that the man seemed to be destined to make her work-life a living nightmare. Honestly, how long did it take to buy a drink from a vending machine? She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and while exhaling, started slowly counting from one to ten. When she reached seven, she felt a sharp jab in her side and yelped in response, her eyes immediately snapping open. In front of her, Patrick Jane was beaming brightly, obviously very pleased with the response he had elicited from her. Growling, she turned her back to him, threw open the car door and sat in the driver's seat.

"What's wrong?" Jane inquired.

"You tell me, you're the psychic," she seethed as she placed the keys in the ignition.

While Lisbon believed in heaven, she had always been suspicious about the claims of psychics. So many of them simply appeared to be fleecing vulnerable people and positively relished in the role. There was nothing more comforting than hearing a message from a deceased loved one, or so they said. They claimed it put your mind at ease, gave you the knowledge that they passed on peacefully. Funny how everyone died peacefully and were content once dead, according to the claims of said charlatans. People had tried it with her in the past. The moment they found out she had been orphaned by sixteen, they assumed she would be the perfect target, but it was her youngest brother who lapped up their every word. He had often chastised her skepticism, but since they saw each other so rarely that it had little to no effect on her opinion.

"There's no need to be so snippy, Agent Lisbon," he muttered.

"Just Lisbon will do," Lisbon responded, choosing to ignore the rest of his statement.

"Fine," Jane grinned, "where are we going 'Just' Lisbon?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You know what I meant."

He beamed at her and ignored her response. Instead, she quickly explained where they had got to with the case. They hadn't found many leads as yet, something that had been irritating all four agents. Lisbon didn't bother revealing that she suspected Rebecca Sandler of murdering her husband, especially since it recently emerged that he had been cheating on her. Suspicions were not what solved cases, cold, hard facts were. After a good hour of Jane continually trying to pick arguments and Lisbon snapping in response, they arrived at the Sandler family home. Lisbon was simply relieved to be out of the small, metal box. While she wouldn't be able to get away from Jane for quite some time, it at least gave her some breathing space.

Mrs. Sandler was already waiting at the door for them with a tray of chocolate brownies in her hand. She smiled genially as Jane and Lisbon approached her. Somehow, she managed to juggle the treat and shake Lisbon's proffered hand, before inviting them inside. Jane immediately set about wandering the house, without waiting for permission and Lisbon rolled her eyes before taking the seat she was offered in the lounge. Quickly, she explained to the mourning woman why she and Jane had come to visit and asked for permission for Jane to use his 'skills' in order to enlighten them further. Rebecca Sandler quickly agreed but soon disappeared into the kitchen, citing a need for refreshments. While her mother was otherwise engaged, a little girl wandered through. Lisbon smiled slightly as she approached her; she had seen her briefly the last time she was here.

"Hello. Who are you?"

"I'm Teresa," Lisbon replied, "what's you name?"

"Lucie."

"Lucie," repeated Lisbon airily, "what a pretty name."

"Thank you," Lucie said, beaming. "Yours is pretty, too."

"You think so?"

Lucie nodded and sat down beside Lisbon. She shuffled slightly and observed Lisbon curiously. The little girl remembered seeing Lisbon's badge the last time she was there and could see it clipped reassuringly to her belt again. Rebecca quickly popped her head around the door frame, offering them both a drink, which Lisbon promptly declined. The woman then announced that she was going to go find Patrick, leaving Lisbon and her daughter in peace.

"Mommy says I should never talk to strangers."

"That's very wise of her."

"But you're a police lady, so can I talk to you?"

"You can," Lisbon confirmed. "Is there something on your mind, Lucie?"

Lisbon listened carefully as the little girl explained how her uncle had been around the night her father had died. She explained in depth about how she had heard screams and gunshots from outside her bedroom window. While she took down notes, Lisbon knew that they couldn't take the word of a six year old as gospel truth, but it was better than nothing. She hadn't been expecting to take statements from a child, but Lucie had offered the information readily. Lisbon had found it strange how the girl had been so scared to approach her the first time around, until she realized that the uncle that Lucie had referred to had also been present then.

"Agent Lisbon!"

Lisbon quickly bid Lucie fairly and bolted in the direction that Jane was calling from. She soon found herself upstairs, with the new consultant being held at gunpoint in the master bedroom. A gun was at Jane's feet and his hands were held above his head. In between them, stood Rebecca Sandler, pointing yet another gun directly at Jane. She was busy shrieking at Jane about how being psychic meant that he knew all her secrets and he had to die. Silently, Lisbon unclipped her own gun before drawing the attention of the crazed woman to herself.

"I suggest you put that gun down, Mrs. Sandler," Lisbon spoke calmly. "I think we will need to question you back at our headquarters in Sacramento."

She was pleasantly surprised when Rebecca Sandler immediately admitted defeat and let the pistol fall to her feet. Without a word, Lisbon handcuffed her before picking up both guns that had been in the woman's possession as evidence. A quick telephone call meant that within five minutes, Lucie's grandparents had come to pick her up and Lisbon was happy to leave, knowing that the girl would be looked after. Another call through to Cho had sent Hotchkiss and Rigsby after Mrs. Sandler's brother.

"What the hell were you doing up there, Jane?" she growled once they were on the road. "It's rude to go rummaging around people's houses without permission. I told you not to rile relatives of victims or suspects and you just managed to do both."

"Meh, I found your murder weapon, didn't I?"

"That's not the point. Just how did you find it, anyway? Read her mind, or something?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Something like that."

"You're incorrigible."

"And you're quick to pass judgment," Jane shot back. "I imagine that can be quite a hindrance to your career."

"My career is no business of yours," she snapped. "Why are you working for us anyway?"

Jane shrugged. "Minelli asked me."

"Minelli…" she exclaimed. "I don't believe this. Do you have the whole world wrapped around your little finger or something?"

"Not quite," Jane grinned. "You're not."

Lisbon sighed heavily and remained in a stony silence for the rest of the journey back to Sacramento, much to Jane's chagrin. Despite the petite agent's obvious stubborn streak, he had hoped that he would be able to break through it somehow. Most people were sold by his easy charm or a few smart words, but Lisbon was obviously going to be a challenge. And Patrick Jane never backed down to those. Whether Agent Lisbon liked it or not, he was determined to win her over one way or another. He just had to work out why she had taken such an instant dislike to him.

It was gone seven before Hotchkiss told them all that they could leave. Jane had taken to entertaining Rigsby while Lisbon and Cho interrogated their two suspects. Rigsby had taken an instant liking to Jane despite the fact he knew that his female colleague had a relatively sound judgment of character. The confessions came quickly, one after the other, much to the relief of the unit. Another case closed, surprisingly quickly, considering how little information they had that morning. Lisbon and Cho smiled at each other, satisfied, as they gathered together belongings and bid each other farewell. Lisbon was nearly at the elevator when Jane managed to catch up with her. They rode downstairs in silence and it wasn't until they were in the parking lot that Jane began to speak to her.

"Will I be seeing you tomorrow, 'Just' Lisbon?"

"Will you stop calling me that?"

Jane grinned.

"It's what you told me to call you."

"No it's not."

"So, will I?"

"If you're coming in tomorrow, then yes," she replied before stalking off to her car as fast as physically possible.

Arriving back home and being greeted by on over-eager golden retriever was a blessed relief for Lisbon. She had finished baby-sitting that infuriating consultant for the day, though she had a feeling it would become a regular occurrence. For some reason, she could see herself saving his sorry ass day in, day out. After all, he had managed to get a gun pulled on him on his first day on the job, which had to be some kind of record. Lisbon slipped out of her work shoes, fed the dog a treat and headed straight to her bedroom to change into something more comfortable. While boiling up some hot water to cook some pasta, she wondered why the hell she couldn't get Jane off her mind. She shook her head, the man really had riled her up. That was all it was all there was to it.

Wasn't it?

**TBC...**


	3. You Have To Be Joking

**A/N: **I'm rattling through this fic surprisingly quickly at the moment. Things will be getting difficult to write eventually though, I imagine. I'm beginning to think I should just ignore my plot bunnies at times. They're nothing but trouble, all of them. I'm going to try updating _50 Things to Say_ in the next couple of days because I haven't really written anything for that collection since I started _Unbound_. I apologise.

Thanks go to: lalez, Izzy, Divinia Serit (twin!), Penelope Louise, PhoenixWytch, Madaboutthementalist and NellieTheItalian for kindly leaving reviews for Part Two.

Part Three is dedicated to my beta, lil smiles, who loves Poppy. So do I. I'll have to incorporate her more somehow...

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**Part Three - You have to be joking**

The click of high heels against the parquet floor quickly disturbed Jane from his slumber. He had been working for the CBI for a good month now and had already found that the office was by far the most restful place to sleep, especially as he'd had problems with insomnia since his teens. There was no particular need for him to sleep there, he had a perfectly good apartment to go home to, but the couch was particularly comfortable and for some strange reason, he found the ambiance of the office relaxing. The now-silenced heels were new though and had been like sharp stabs of pain against his consciousness. Jane opened a bleary eye to see his favorite of the four agents he worked with staring at her laptop with a fierce intensity that she reserved only for technology that was stubbornly refusing to work and himself. Sitting up, he grinned at her and was entirely unsurprised by the scowl he received in return.

"I don't think glaring at it will make it work, Lisbon."

"Yeah, I gathered that Jane." With a frustrated sigh, her fists slammed into the desk. "Where's Rigsby when you need him?"

"Still eating breakfast," Jane remarked. "When is your meeting, by the way?"

Lisbon blinked. She hadn't told him about the meeting, but that was because she avoided telling Jane anything about herself at all. Yes, he had an uncanny ability (whether he was actually psychic or not, had yet to decide) which helped them to solve certain crimes, but she still likened him to a thorn in her side. As she had expected on that first day, Hotchkiss did have a habit of sending them out to places together, and though Lisbon attempted to keep him on a figuratively tight leash, he was virtually uncontrollable. That was probably the reason he did it, to be fair. It certainly killed two birds with one stone, for Hotchkiss, anyway. And even she noticed that she was more successful at damage limitation with Jane than the rest of the team put together. She was just relieved that Jane seemed to have stopped calling her 'Just Lisbon.'

"What business is it of yours?"

"Oh, am I not allowed to be interested in the life of my work colleagues?" Jane queried. "You look nice, by the way."

"Jane?" Lisbon spoke, ignoring the fact that a simple compliment had made her flush a rosy red.

"Yes, Lisbon?"

"Shut up and sleep."

"Yes, ma'am."

An hour later, Jane watched through half closed eyes as Lisbon left with Hotchkiss for Virgil Minelli's office. That was intriguing. He had been fairly certain for a fortnight or so that the man was leaving soon, his demeanour indicated that at the very least. As for Lisbon, well, she would make an ideal replacement and Jane knew that she certainly deserved it with how much work she put into her blossoming career. She had a very sensible head on her shoulders, almost too sensible, in a way. Needless to say, when she returned approximately two hours later, beaming, Jane was satisfied in the knowledge he was right. He immediately sat up to greet her as she approached him.

"Someone's happy," he remarked as she sat down at her desk beside him.

"Yes, I am."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks."

It only takes a couple of seconds for her to realize that she hadn't actually informed him of what her good news is. Jane took great pleasure in watching the range of emotions that crossed her face until, like usual, she appeared to settle into sheer irritation. It was a shame, really. He had decided that she had really looked beautiful with that beatific grin she was wearing moments earlier.

"Hey, Lisbon. I'm sure you have a prettier first name than 'Just.' Care to enlighten me?"

"Not really, no."

Though she tried to resist it, her lips pulled themselves into a crooked smile that he had been seeing more and more of recently.

"Not even if I take you on a date?"

Lisbon let out a hollow laugh.

"You have to be joking."

Jane shook his head in response.

"Okay, you're not joking. No, I don't want to go on a date with you, Jane."

Cho appeared in the bullpen and Lisbon saw this as an excuse to ignore her computer issues and get away from Jane. As she stalked off, Jane allowed his eyes to roam over her figure, burning it to memory. She rarely wore skirts, and was only doing so today because of the meeting she had had earlier with Minelli, so he knew that he had to enjoy the view while he still could. She seemed to have warmed to him, a little. As he reclined once more on the couch, he allowed a smile to trace itself across his features. Maybe now was the time to bring out _Operation Seduce Lisbon_. Her refusal had just made him all the more determined; he knew she was beginning to enjoy his company at the very least. Lisbon's eyes managed to betray her each and every time, not that she was aware of it.

"Jane?" Rigsby called over, having just raided the kitchenette. He had a cup of coffee in one hand and a packet of cookies in the other. "What are you so pleased about?"

"Prospective romance," Jane replied, settling down with one eye still firmly focused on the raven haired agent.

Rigsby narrowed his eyes and soon spotted that Jane was watching a certain female agent with interest. She was busy talking to Cho about her promotion and the case that they closed last week on the other side of the bullpen. Jane smirked as the Asian agent congratulated her, a brief flicker of emotions tracing across his features. It was only natural that he'd be so pleased for her. Despite the fact there was only a year's age difference between the pair, Jane already knew that Lisbon had aided Cho in much of his training. This was partially due to her mother hen attitude that she failed dismally at keeping hidden and partially due to the fact that she had been headhunted by Virgil Minelli at such a young age. Between Hotchkiss, Minelli and Lisbon, Agent Cho had probably received the best training of anyone currently in the employment of the CBI.

"No… you're not thinking about seducing Lisbon are you?" he whispered incredulously. "She'll eat you alive."

Jane grinned wickedly. If that was the case, then he was more than willing to be dinner. Besides, he was fairly certain that underneath that cold, polished veneer, a warm and sensual woman was hiding and was just desperate to break out. Just as Rigsby was about to protest yet again, Hotchkiss appeared in the bullpen and called them all over for an announcement. Obviously he was about to break the news that he was leaving and Lisbon was taking his position. Poor man, Jane mused. The only one it would be of any surprise to was Rigsby.

Sure enough, Rigsby spat out virtually half of his coffee before Hotchkiss finished his sentence. Of course everyone was quick to say how sorry they were to see him go and that he would be missed terribly. Once he was ensconced in his office, Lisbon quietly informed the youngest agent that she was due to take their current boss' position in a month's time. She looked slightly uncomfortable as the tall man enveloped her in a tight hug and quickly pulled herself out of his tangle of limbs.

"We'll be getting a rookie too, guys," she mumbled, clearly embarrassed by the physical contact and resumed her fight with technology.

"What does that mean?" Jane queried.

"It means that I'll no longer be stuck with all the boring jobs," Rigsby announced triumphantly, looking as if the day couldn't possibly get better.

"Oh, I'm hoping that she'll be able to have a good balance of training both in and out of the field," Lisbon added lightly. "I believe that Hotchkiss has limited your fieldwork unnecessarily, Rigsby."

By evening, Lisbon was glad to be out of the CBI headquarters. Jane had developed a horrible habit of staring at her with a doe-eyed expression. What they needed was a good, tough case to focus on until she took up her new position, something to get Jane to focus his attention on something other than herself. Once home, she quickly changed and clipped the leash onto her dog. The few spots of summer rain looked promising and she couldn't help but smile as she left her apartment. The dog was quite happy to join her on the jog to the park as the rain grew heavier. When she stopped for breath, she looked down at her loving pet quite sadly. Lisbon knew that in her acceptance of the senior agent position, her working hours would increase dramatically again. Would she still have the time for Poppy?

"Come on, Pop," she muttered as the dog strained to go in the opposite direction. "This way."

Lisbon frowned as a blond haired man came into view, his curls soaked by rainwater. He smiled at them, and immediately lavished the dog with attention, much to Lisbon's annoyance. As he straightened, she scowled at him and attempted to restrain her dog more effectively.

"Fancy seeing you here," he spoke while pushing a tendril of dark hair out of her eyes.

"Don't start, Jane. You know I always run here."

"Are you sure I can't take you out on a date?" he murmured.

He reached out, covering her hand and allowed his fingertips to run over the knuckles she had tightly clenched around Poppy's leash.

"I think it would be nice," he continued.

It took her half a second to realize what he was doing and immediately, she pulled her hand away from his. Blushing, Lisbon forced her gaze downwards at the dog who was yet again trying to jump up at Jane. Obviously, he had already somehow won over her pet, the traitorous beast. It didn't help that she had been growing fond of Jane, though she used everything in her power to prevent him from seeing that. At least he hadn't been quite as terrible as her initial view of him had been.

"I'm sorry, Jane," she replied.

"Your name, then? It's only fair, you know mine. I'll find out in a month's time when you get it in pretty black letters on your new office door anyway," he pointed out.

"Jane," she whined, "I don't know what you're trying to achieve."

"You need to open up more," he shrugged.

"Teresa."

Before he had a chance to respond, she turned and left. The situation was getting dangerously out of control and she felt the need to be within the safe confines of her home and as far away from Jane as she could possibly be.

**TBC...**


	4. Is That A Hint Of Guilt In Your Voice

**A/N: **Ugh, this part is a little short. It is also dedicated to my twin, Divinia Serit, since she just asked me to update so nicely. I was going to update this morning anyway, but that's not the point.

Thank you, as always, to lil smiles for being my beta.

Thanks to: NellietheItalian, lalez, Madaboutthementalist, Divinia Serit, PhoenixWytch, Penelope Louise and dizzy - in - the - izzy for your kind reviews. It can't be said often enough just how much they mean to me.

x tromana

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**Part Four - "Is that a hint of guilt in your voice, Agent Lisbon?"**

"That's Cho and this is Rigsby," Lisbon told the new rookie who had just arrived at the CBI headquarters. "Patrick Jane, our consultant is currently on suspension but will be back next week. Guys, this is Van Pelt."

Lisbon smiled slightly as Rigsby's jaw dropped and Cho offered the red-head a hand, which she shook gratefully. Van Pelt had dutifully taken note of everything that she had told her so far and she was already looking forward to starting the younger woman's training. Lisbon couldn't quite believe how quickly the month had passed and that she was now a senior agent. As she had hoped, they had received a case to focus on during Hotchkiss' final month in charge. Jane had messed up, inadvertently causing the death of a man at the hands of his wife, though. She knew that he was going mad on suspension, even with his TV career as a psychic on the up. Lisbon had to remind herself daily that she didn't miss him, that he was more of a hindrance than a help. That the smiles he greeted her with and the coffees he had placed on her desk each morning hadn't been as welcomed as he thought they were. It didn't matter that she was lying to herself, what mattered was the impression she gave when he came back again.

Her cell phone buzzed cheerily and she quickly excused herself. Flicking it open, she sighed heavily. It had to be coincidence that Jane was calling just as she was considering the morning coffee routine he had got himself into before he was suspended. She had since decided that he couldn't actually be a psychic and that there had to be a logical explanation for everything he achieved while helping them to solve cases. What said logical explanation was, she had yet to decide. Once she was safely behind the closed door of her office, she answered the call, silencing the incessant beeping from the little piece of technology.

"Lisbon."

"So when can I come back, Teresa?"

"One, its Lisbon and two, you already know the answer. Next week," Lisbon growled. "Stop calling me, Jane."

"Is that a hint of guilt in your voice, Agent Lisbon?"

Lisbon knew that he was entirely correct and also knew that her refusal to answer confirmed everything that Jane had just said to her. She muttered something indistinct and Jane chuckled at her frustration. Really, he knew that her stance wouldn't have changed but he had just wanted to hear her voice again and see just how long he could keep her on the line for. Each and every time, she seemed willing to talk for longer than the previous occurrence. Lisbon would try to deny it of course, but he was fairly certain that she was beginning to miss him, though not quite as much as he missed her.

"Your silence confirms as much," he crowed. "I can be back before lunch time if you want."

"Shut up, Jane," she responded, "I don't want you back."

"You do."

"Repeating something…" she started. "Fine, maybe a little."

Jane couldn't help but smile at the admission he had managed to draw from her. Quickly, she said goodbye and finished the call. He could imagine the flushed cheeks that his conquest was probably trying to disguise at that very moment. Settling back down in the front seat of his trusted old Citroen, which was currently parked in the CBI parking lot, he pressed the 'on' switch to the radio. He had a feeling that if Agent Lisbon's usual work schedule was anything to be going by, it was going to be a fairly long wait until she emerged from the CBI headquarters. Best not to bother her again today until she had actually finished work. He knew how stubborn she could become if he pushed her that little too far, especially if she was busy, which she virtually always was.

Jane hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep until he heard the frantic knocking on his car window. Opening one eye, he spotted Teresa Lisbon with an odd expression on her face glaring back down at him. Quickly, he opened the other and then the window of his vehicle to speak to her. He grinned, sheer bafflement suited her, but then again, he had got to the stage where he believed that most of Lisbon's 'looks' suited her. Except for maybe desolation and sadness, those he could quite happily do without.

"I was wondering if you'd see me," he vocalized.

"Yeah, well it's a bit hard to miss you in this pile of junk." Lisbon managed to crack a slight smile as she gazed down at Jane. "You shouldn't be here."

"I know. I wanted to see you."

"Whatever for? Couldn't it wait until Monday?"

"No, well, probably, but I don't think so."

"Well?"

"Our date."

Lisbon opened her mouth but shut it wordlessly. She remembered laughing at the concept only a month ago and while the idea of a date with Patrick Jane was more tempting this time around, she knew she couldn't. There were countless rules and regulations that dating him would break and she had to set a good example for her team, especially considering she had only been in charge for less than a week. She couldn't knock Jane's persistence, though. After all, he had managed to achieve what she had thought as being the impossible - she found herself actually liking the man, albeit begrudgingly.

"Do you ever give up?" she inquired.

She hadn't been pursued like this for years. For over a decade, even. As far as she was concerned, it was a little bit childish, sophomoric and verging on being ever so slightly embarrassing.

"No," he grinned.

Sighing, she turned and started walking home. Sometimes the best course of action when it came to dealing with Jane was simply to ignore him. Like many small children, he obviously loved to show off so if she didn't give him the attention he obviously craved, she hoped that he would simply give up. It took her several minutes to notice the hum of the engine and Jane driving painfully slowly, keeping time with her. Lisbon growled slightly, obviously he was in a more persistent mood than she had thought.

"Jane," she hissed, "this is dangerous!"

"Come out with me, then," he called. "Please?"

"Even if I wanted to, I can't," she answered, "it's against…"

"No, it's not. I checked. I'm a freelance consultant," he grinned. "I have none of that responsibilities nonsense that you agents have. I'm just here to offer my opinion. Well, when you let me, anyway, instead of having me suspended over semantics."

"Inadvertently causing the death…" Lisbon stopped herself, realizing that her arguments would simply fall on deaf ears. "Will you stop holding up traffic and being a general nuisance if I say yes?"

"Yes."

"Okay, fine. Go," she muttered, cursing herself as she did. "We'll discuss this further on Monday."

**TBC...**


	5. You Just Can’t Keep Away From Work

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone who has already added this story to story alert and favourites. And thanks to NellietheItalian, lalez, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Divinia Serit, PhoenixWytch, Penelope Louise, Madaboutthementalist and kathiann for reviewing.

Thanks also to lil smiles for being an awesome beta and friend. If you haven't read her latest (now complete) multiparter, Unforgivable, I recommend you do so. Heck, even if you have read it, go read it again.

This part is dedicated to Penelope Louise and Divinia Serit. And it's kinda cute, by my standards...

x tromana

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**Part Five - "You just can't keep away from work, can you?" **

As Jane pulled out a pack of strawberries from the picnic hamper, Lisbon decided that she didn't regret taking up his offer of a date. On the contrary, she had actually found herself enjoying it, though she had initially been determined not to. He was proving himself to be gentle and attentive, his arrogance and ego having become less obvious with fewer people around. Maybe it was simply a case of him not having an audience to perform to. Whatever the reason, she decided she preferred this side of Jane, it suited him a hell of a lot more than the way he strut about the CBI. The idea of spending her entire Sunday with him as planned was becoming a rather pleasurable thought, compared to the dread she had been harbouring all week.

"Teresa?"

"Yes, Jane?"

"Call me Patrick, please?" he murmured, "we're not at work."

Lisbon crossed her arms and pouted at him. He smiled and lured her out of her faked mood with the fruit in his hand. She snatched the strawberry from him and tried to hide the smile creeping on her lips by biting into it. It was slightly overripe, the juice trickling between her fingers. As she went to lick it away, Jane took hold of her hand and lifted each finger to his mouth one by one before pressing a chaste kiss to her palm and she gave into the inevitable blush. Usually, such displays of affection embarrassed her regardless of whether or not she was involved, but she found herself willing to allow Jane to do so. Lisbon expected that his ministrations would have been enough to distract her completely from her surroundings under other circumstances, but an anguished scream meant that she snatched her hand back, quickly searching out the direction it came from. Immediately, she pulled off her heeled shoes and ran while Jane struggled to keep up.

"My sister," the woman sobbed, "she's trying to…"

As Lisbon managed to calm down the hysterical woman, Jane hung back, noticing yet again just how good she was at all the aspects of her job. Barely two minutes later, Lisbon had managed to find out that her name was Stephanie and that her half-sister was threatening to commit suicide. Desperate for help and not entirely thinking straight, her first instinct had been to head directly into the nearby park. Returning to the scene, Lisbon gathered as much information about Stephanie's sister while Jane called for backup from the local LEOs and an ambulance.

"Stay here," Lisbon whispered to Stephanie. "I'm going to go and talk to Penny."

As Lisbon carefully picked her way along the bridge to the point where Penelope Fieldston was threatening to throw herself off into the raging river below, Stephanie stared at Jane through tear-filled eyes. Jane quickly took hold of her hands, brushing his fingers against hers soothingly and informed her that Lisbon knew exactly what she was doing. It was fortuitous for the Fieldston siblings that of all the people Stephanie should come across, she had managed to find a police officer, albeit one that was off-duty. By the time the bridge had been closed off to the general public, Lisbon had already managed to talk a shaking Penelope down from the bridge and hand her over to the paramedics to be checked over. Flicking open her cell phone, Jane looked at Lisbon curiously.

"She said something about another sister," she went by way of explanation, in a hushed voice, so that Stephanie couldn't hear. "Found dead. Murdered."

After she had relayed all the information she had managed to gather to an irritated Virgil Minelli, she beckoned Stephanie over and broke the news as gently as it was feasibly possible to. Her boss arrived as she was taking notes on Stephanie's missing, now rumored dead, twin. Two hours had passed when she and Jane were informed that they wouldn't be required again until the morning as it was getting late. They wouldn't be able to get a warrant to search the family home until then either. After all, Penelope had been in no state to even explain the location of the body, never mind anything else. Lisbon hated it when cases stalled like that, even if it was an unexpected one that they had wandered into during a date. In front of her boss, she ensured that Jane kept a healthy distance away from her and she didn't make any attempt to explain why they were already there, together. It had helped that Minelli didn't actually bother asking.

"You just can't keep away from work, can you?" Jane whispered and he allowed his fingers to entwine with hers once they were a sufficient distance away from Minelli. "What am I to do with you?"

"You can take me to a bar," Lisbon replied with confidence. "I think I deserve a drink."

Jane nodded in agreement and they returned to the park to gather their belongings in silence. Lisbon appeared to have already slipped out of 'agent' mode since the unwelcome interruption to their date, much to Jane's relief. As the hamper was placed in the boot of the car, Jane stopped and took the opportunity to wrap his arms around Lisbon's waist and place a soft, sweet kiss on her lips. Heart pounding, he was relieved when she didn't pull away and allowed one of his hands to run through her silky, dark hair. He shuddered slightly as her fingers ran delicately up his spine and groaned as she pulled away for air.

"To a bar then?" he asked, breathlessly.

"To a bar," she confirmed, smiling.

He parked back at her apartment complex. The place that Lisbon had wanted to go to was only a ten minute walk away from her home, so it saved them from paying to park. The bar staff welcomed her with a welcoming smile and Jane briefly wondered whether or not it was because she was something of a regular or if the man was just being particularly friendly. When he failed to refer to her by name as she ordered their drinks, he let out a sigh of relief. The idea of Teresa being a heavy drinker had disconcerted him somewhat. The conversation was easy, even without talking about work and what had just happened that the time just flew by. As she perched on a barstool, having drunk a couple of glasses of wine, which helped her relax a little and lowered her inhabitions, Jane smiled wistfully at her. He already knew that he trusted her more than he had anyone before and couldn't help but think that he may be falling a little in love with her.

As they left together, he surreptitiously slipped his jacket around her bare shoulders and was relieved that she didn't shrug it off. They walked slowly, neither particularly wanting the evening to end. Jane paused, causing Lisbon to stop and turn around while staring at him inquisitively. He took a deep breath, not entirely sure why he had such an urge to tell her such an important detail about his life.

"I'm not psychic."

Had he told her a month ago, even a week ago, she knew that she would have gloated in the revelation, pleased to have been proved right. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he placed a kiss on her temple.

"How do you do it, then?"

He managed a garbled, though honest, reply before they carried on walking. He had no desire to lie to her and Lisbon seemed like she appreciated the gravity of his admission. When they reached her front door, Jane meant to prove to her that underneath the suave, flirtatious image he portrayed, he could actually be a gentleman. She made that rather difficult as her lips crashed down on his, her teeth nipping at his bottom lip and her tongue doing devilish things to him. Somehow, they managed to collapse through the open door and breaking off for a split second, she indicated in the direction of her bedroom. He knew this was wrong. She was technically his boss and she was tipsy at the very least. This could only end in disaster. Unfortunately, the alcohol had gone to his head too, so he had no energy to fight his desires, unless it wasn't what she wanted, of course. The way Lisbon pressed her hips against his indicated that right here, right now, she didn't particularly care about any of the issues that would spring up in the near future either. Eventually, they collapsed onto her double bed rather clumsily, him on top of her and he took the time to briefly stare deep into her darkening eyes. In between feather light kisses on her collar bone, neck, jaw line, any exposed skin, he asked her if it was what she wanted. The breathy 'yes' as her fingers attempted to pry open the buttons of his vest was enough.

Come morning, Lisbon groaned as the early sun peeked its way through the gap in her curtains, the brightness making the headache she had developed blindingly obvious. That was probably due to the red wine she had consumed the previous night. Mentally, she made a note to avoid the stuff, yet again, as it always gave her a hangover. As she attempted to untangle her feet from the sheets, she finally noticed the arm draped around her bare midriff. Jane mumbled something indistinct and attempted to pull her in closer. Throwing him off, she stood and quickly grabbed her dressing gown to protect her dignity, though it was a little late for that now. As she grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen and swallowed two dry, all she could think about was just how bad this situation was.

"What time is it?" Jane repeated, more coherently.

"Seven a.m. We have work," she answered.

**TBC...**


	6. We Need to Talk

**A/N: **First things first, thanks to lil smiles for casting her expert eye over this again. It's much appreciated!

Secondly, this part is dedicated to twin. You have no idea how much I appreciate your support and just how much you mean to me. Thank you so, so much. Hope you enjoy this part.

Thirdly thanks to: dizzy - in - the - izzy, Penelope Louise, Divinia Serit, mwalter1, earthlydreamz, JelloFanatic123, PhoenixWytch and NellietheItalian for reviewing Part Five.

Now, I'm going to post this, get some breakfast and a cup of tea. Nearly been up for 2 hours and still haven't eaten. Oops.

x tromana

**Part Six - We Need to Talk.**

Lisbon almost felt physically sick as she walked into the crime scene, with Jane close behind. She wasn't entirely sure, whether or not, she could blame it on her slowly clearing hangover or the fact that the scene was particularly gruesome. On the first wall, she saw, a smiling face had been daubed in the victim's blood, with her body artfully draped on her bed. The poor girl's upper body had been deeply slashed several times, which appeared to be the cause of her untimely demise. She had been dead for at least three days, according to the coroner, who had arrived shortly before them. Whispering in her ear, Jane had informed her that the apartment hadn't been broken into, but it was entirely possible that their murderer had either stolen a spare key or picked the lock. The state of the room confirmed that there had been a struggle and that she hadn't expected visitors in her tiny apartment.

"Her name is Louise Fieldston, twenty seven and the twin of Stephanie Fieldston. She lived here alone; Stephanie moved out to join her fiancé two months ago. Louise worked as an admin assistant but was considering applying for POST, having grown bored of office work," Cho spoke. "According to the younger sister, Penelope, that was causing friction between the three women. Minelli spoke to her this morning, when she was released from hospital."

Lisbon nodded as she listened to him. "Is there a husband or boyfriend in the picture?"

"Not that we know of, boss," Cho replied while Lisbon cringed at the use of the title. "We can ask Stephanie, later. I've organized an interview with her at HQ this afternoon."

"Good."

Jane briefly left Lisbon's side to scour the crime scene. The woman obviously loved her sisters dearly, photographs of them covering virtually every available surface. A half completed POST form lay on her bedside table, a couple of drops of her blood having fallen onto the open page. He smiled as he found a diary and started flipping through it absent-mindedly until Lisbon, glowering, snatched it from his hands and handed it to forensics to bag and tag. Jane smirked slightly, disconcerted by the fact that she seemed to have been actively ignoring him since they arrived at the crime scene.

"You done here?" she questioned him.

"Yeah."

"Let's go, then."

During lunch, she had managed to avoid Jane once again, choosing to discuss the case with the rookie, Van Pelt. The younger woman was eager, enthusiastic and thrilled to be having the sole attention of her boss. Lisbon was pleased to finally have some time to get to know the newest addition to her team and the chance to see how she approached such a violent case. Jane, however, didn't appreciate the fact that she was using such an obvious ploy as an excuse to stay away from him for as long as it was feasibly possible. He had brightened immediately when Stephanie walked in three hours later, looking unsurprisingly nervous.

"Hi," she whispered, "I was told I would be able to find Agent Lisbon here."

"I'll just go and get her," Jane smiled.

Rigsby intervened, taking the woman into an interrogation room. She wasn't technically going to undergo a complete interrogation, but it added a sense of formality to the questioning. Jane grinned. Finally, he had an excuse to disturb the two women. Boldly walking up to Lisbon's office, he entered without knocking. Both women quickly snapped to his attention and suddenly he felt quite uncomfortable coming under their gaze. The pretty redhead looked at Jane curiously, while Lisbon just scowled slightly.

"Stephanie Fieldston has arrived."

"Right, thank you. Van Pelt, if you could just run that database check, it'd be much appreciated."

"Yes, boss," the woman stammered. "Thank you, boss."

Van Pelt rushed out of Lisbon's office and straight to her desk to carry out the tasks that were asked of her. Turning her back to Jane, Lisbon gathered together her case notes, trying to process the facts they had so far. Forensics had called while she had been eating, informing her that they had picked up no strands of hair, no clothing fibers, no DNA, nothing, which was unusual in itself. Obviously this guy had been very well prepared and she didn't like it. And it didn't help that she felt distracted, especially every time Jane came anywhere near her. She decided that she needed to regain focus as she left her office with Jane, hot on her heels.

"Teresa, we need to talk."

"Not now," she hissed as Jane all but cornered her in the observation room.

"Okay, when would be a more appropriate time for you?"

"Later," she retorted, "and call me Lisbon."

Jane grumbled incoherently as Cho strolled into the interrogation room to question Stephanie Fieldston. The young woman appeared as distraught as she had the previous night, first over the attempted suicide of her younger sibling and then the reported, now confirmed, death of her twin. She responded quickly and eloquently to the questions that Cho threw at her but she was growing frustrated, however, frequently asking when she could see Agent Lisbon. Sighing, Lisbon tapped on the one-way mirror to gain Cho's attention and indicate that she was going to come through too. Stephanie seemed to visibly relax when she saw the brunette agent and smiled weakly as Lisbon took a seat opposite her.

"Thank you for saving Penny," Stephanie stated, breaking the silence. "She's all I have left now."

"I was just doing my job."

"You were off-duty, though."

"It doesn't matter," Lisbon replied, matter-of-factly. "Now, do you know of anybody who would want to threaten Louise?"

It didn't take them long to realize that they weren't going to get any further with questioning Stephanie. Jane, through Cho, informed her that he knew she wasn't lying and that he believed that she wasn't physically capable of killing her sibling. Eventually she left quietly, with well-wishes from the agents for her suicidal sister, hoping desperately that they would receive some kind of lead on the death of her twin. Briefly, Lisbon allowed her head to rest on the desk in front of her, relishing in the cool feeling across her forehead. She had no idea where they would get any leads from. The crime scene had nothing, apart from the smiley face which just seemed like it had been daubed there to mock them. According to her sister, Louise had apparently been well-liked, if a little shy and that there wasn't any particular reason that could lead to someone wanting to kill her. The worst was the arguments that they had been having over Louise's desire to retrain as a police officer. Lisbon jumped as she felt Jane's hand on her shoulder; she hadn't even heard him enter the interrogation room.

"Can we talk now?"

Lisbon nodded and followed him out into the bullpen. Everyone else had already been given permission to leave when Stephanie had; she saw no point in holding them all there when they didn't have even a shred of a clue to tear apart. She much preferred the idea of them returning in the morning, having received a good night's rest. Even though she was fairly certain she needed it more than they did, she knew she wouldn't be happy to leave for quite some time.

"Just so you know, I don't," she started, taking a deep breath. "I don't usually end up in bed with someone on the first date."

"But you did with me."

"We're not going to be in that position again," she assured him.

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"I just can."

He approached her and attempted to tentatively place a gentle hand on her cheek but she pulled away before he had the time. Frowning, he sat on his couch and indicated that he would like her to do the same. When she didn't and leant against the desk in front of him instead, his frown deepened. Jane knew he should have expected this; Teresa Lisbon had more boundaries than a state prison and she was obviously in the process of meticulously rebuilding them. For some reason, what had happened the previous night had embarrassed her, like they had done something wrong. What hurt him even more was that she was looking in any direction but at him. She was nervously looking around for any sign of someone else approaching them despite the fact that she knew that everyone else had already gone home for the night. After all, it was her who had dismissed them shortly after they had released Stephanie.

"We didn't do anything wrong."

"That's not the point... Stop it Jane!" she snapped, pulling her hand from his grasp. "The point is that being in charge, I have to…"

"Be a role model to the others, follow each and every rule and regulation to the letter and so on," Jane finished dully. "We discussed this, Teresa. We're not breaking any rules or regulations. You enjoyed yourself yesterday, yes?"

"Yes," she admitted, quietly.

"So what's the problem?"

"I have my principles and nothing you can say will change that."

Not being able to bear any more of his protestations, she stalked off into the solace of her office. Stubbornly, she ignored the tear that was itching to fall from the corner of her eye, picking up the file for what felt like the thousandth time that day. Every report still came up blank, the kind of case they all loathed. Still, she had already decided that there was absolutely no way she was going to leave until she was absolutely certain that Jane had, even if that meant that Poppy would probably feel like she had abandoned her for the night. She did not want to run into him again until tomorrow. Lisbon also had a shrinking feeling that attempting to maintain a platonic friendship with Jane was going to be harder than she originally anticipated.

**TBC...**


	7. That’s Rather Egotistical Of You, Jane

**A/N: **So sorry about the delay and I'm afraid I can't promise the next chapter will be any quicker. I'll be honest, I've hit a bit of a stumbling block with it. I'll get through it sooner or later, don't worry. It's just irritating, really. On the plus side, this chapter is rather long for me. *grins*

Thanks to my beta, lil smiles who does such an awesome job. ::hugs::

Thanks also go to: lalez, NellietheItalian, .x..x.x., mwalter1, PhoenixWytch, Divinia Serit, JelloFanatic123, FallenAngelsofLove, CaterinaCarmela and Dory for taking the time to review. I'm glad you're all still enjoying my 'little' AU.

This is for CaterinaCarmela who has been kind enough to go back and review each and every chapter. Hope your head is playing nice and that you and Ara are well!

x tromana

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**Part Seven - "That's rather egotistical of you, Jane."**

Lisbon had tried to refuse point blank to approach the subject of romance again. She had tried to keep at least an arm's length away physically and emotionally too, something which he made particularly difficult as he didn't seem to believe in personal boundaries. Even the smallest of gestures made her feel like he was trying to worm his way back into her affections, to break down her barriers again. However much she liked Patrick Jane, Lisbon just didn't want to go there again. It didn't matter that on that one night, she had felt more alive than she had in years and that she could be fairly certain, he would be an attentive, loving partner. Her responsibilities as a senior agent far outweighed any desires she had for her personal life and her job was her priority, regardless of what other people thought it should be. Occasionally, Jane brought the whole team coffee, doughnuts, cookies or some other treat and he always made sure that Lisbon had a more than fair share for herself. That meant she thought nothing of it when he brought in coffee after having been absent for a couple of days, seeing his clients as a psychic, as he had brought something for the others too. He placed the polystyrene cup on her desk and she nodded her gratitude, going to grab hold of it. Before she had the chance to lift it to her mouth, his fingers wrapped around hers.

"We can't keep going like this."

"Like what? The only problems I see right now are the Fieldston case and our newest one."

"Teresa-"

"Lisbon."

"Teresa," he repeated stubbornly, "you can cut the tension in the office with a knife. And I'm not talking about Rigsby and Van Pelt, either."

She growled slightly and carefully extracted her hand from beneath his. Every week since their date, Jane had tried to get her to speak about her emotions and to get her to admit that yes, she did still like him. This was the precise reason that Lisbon had taken to avoiding him, except for when she was getting his opinion on their current cases, not that even he had any solutions on the Fieldston murder. The media had all sorts of opinions, however and had taken to calling their elusive murderer 'Red John'. The names they came up with amused her somewhat; sometimes they could be quite inventive, even if it did have a habit of highlighting her frustrations at her shortcomings.

" Please…"

"My stance hasn't changed since last month, last week even," she sighed. "Now, unless you have anything useful to say about either of our cases, I suggest you leave."

Begrudgingly, he retreated back into the bullpen where Rigsby looked at him sympathetically. The tall man understood exactly how Jane was currently feeling. Though he hadn't known Van Pelt for that long, Rigsby knew that he liked her quite a lot and he showed it. It had gotten to the point where the other agents were beginning to tease him about it, much to the irritation of the pair of them. It particularly annoyed him when Jane mentioned it because Lisbon only had to enter a room for the blond to turn from a suave man, bubbling with charisma, to a lovesick teenager. It also didn't help Rigsby's jealous streak; at least Jane was able to make a move on Lisbon, whereas he couldn't because both he and Van Pelt were agents and they couldn't risk jeopardizing both of their careers.

"No luck again?"

Jane shook his head. Only briefly looking up from the report he was in the middle of filling in, it was Cho who had made the effort to ask.

"She'll back down eventually," he assured him.

"You may annoy her, but you make her happy. Even she can't deny that. Have you seen the way she smiles at you when you give her a coffee?" Van Pelt sighed, after ensuring that Lisbon definitely wasn't going to be leaving her office any time soon. "It's so sweet."

With a wry smile, Jane took to his couch. He could only hope that they were right, if only for his sanity. His eyes had only been closed for just five minutes when the recognizable footsteps of Lisbon entered the bullpen. Jane found he couldn't help but grin, hopefully it meant that they could get on with one of their two current cases. It didn't surprise him when she kicked him in the gut and he opened his eyes to see her glaring down at him.

"We need to go and question Gregory Marsters over the Shaw case again," Lisbon stated.

Jane was already at his feet before she had the chance to stalk off.

"If you're coming, I want no more declarations of love," she added. "You've already used your quota for this week."

Lisbon was surprised at just how well Jane behaved on the journey over to the Marsters'. With the mood he had appeared to be in earlier, she had expected him to be petulant over the fact that she had rejected his advances yet again or at the very least, to try to restart the conversation again, especially since she would have no escape from a moving vehicle. Instead, he was good as gold and chose to talk about what he had been up to on his days off. It intrigued Lisbon just how he dealt with deceiving vulnerable people on a regular basis. After all, karma could be a bitch and simply decide to turn around and bite him on the ass one day, despite the 'good deeds' he did with the CBI.

"You_ are_ going to behave, aren't you?" she asked dubiously as she killed the engine.

"Don't I always?"

"No," she responded immediately.

Quickly, she stalked to the door and knocked on it firmly, growing impatient at the lack of response. Jane just smiled at her, rocking back on his heels nonchalantly. Glaring at him, she simply knocked louder, calling to their suspect and asking him, yet again, to answer the door.

"Maybe-"

"Jane, get down!"

He opened his mouth in attempt to reply. As a bullet barely missed him, he felt her attempt to pull him to the ground. Not expecting to be knocked off his feet by a short, fierce woman, Jane stumbled and accidentally knocked the back of his head against the door. He winced as he heard a gun fire for a second time and tried desperately to get his eyes to focus again. Lisbon had already disappeared, obviously to try and bring the situation back under control. With the amount of shots being fired around him, Jane could only hope that she would be alright. His self-preservation had already kicked in, which meant that he wasn't willing to go running into danger for a change. His eyes were still swimming as the noise died down and he breathed a sigh of relief as a woman, who he was assumed was Lisbon wrestled the perp into the back of the SUV. As she approached him tentatively, he somehow managed to stumble back onto his feet.

"Oh thank goodness."

Her arms wrapped carefully around his waist and suddenly he didn't notice the hopefully minor injury he had just obtained. Lisbon breathed a shaky sigh of relief and nuzzled her head against his chest. Jane propped himself up against the door, enjoying the physical contact that he had been deprived of for a month. Unable to resist, Lisbon tentatively stood on her toes to place a kiss on his lips and allowed one of her arms to snake behind his head. Before she had a chance to actually press her lips against his, she quickly pulled away when she found her fingers covered in a sticky substance. She gasped a gentle sigh of horror when she looked at her hand and found it covered in his blood. Gently, she pulled him around so she could inspect the gash on the back of his head. He winced slightly as her slender fingers darted around the injury.

"I hurt you, I'm sorry," she muttered. "We need to get you to hospital."

"Why? You saved my life," he reminded her, "and besides, I lost balance. It's not your fault."

He had never seen Lisbon this panicked before. Obviously, she felt like she had failed an aspect of her job, the bit that involved keeping him out of harm's way. Carefully, he indicated to where the bullet had buried itself in the door courtesy of their suspect. It did little to calm her frazzled nerves as she called Cho to ask him and Rigsby to pick up the SUV and take the perp back to headquarters. She eyed Jane nervously and insisted he sat down before he fell down for a second time.

"Have you got a handkerchief?"

"Yes, why?"

"You need a compress on that wound, it's still bleeding."

"You're fussing over nothing, woman. I'm fine."

"You can't see the back of your head," Lisbon retorted. "Now give it to me."

Cho and Rigsby mercifully, arrived quickly and not without some bickering, Lisbon eventually managed to persuade Jane to let her take him to the ER. Throughout his treatment, she hovered nearby, always keeping one eye on him but trying to be surreptitious about it. Eventually, he was released but not without Lisbon promising his doctor that she would keep an eye on him overnight at the very least. She still felt partially responsible, after all and the only thing that helped lessen the guilt a little was the telephone call she had just received from Cho, stating that they had got a confession from Gregory Marsters for the murder of Anneke Shaw. As they stopped at his apartment so they could pick up what he would need for a night's stay, Jane decided he was thrilled with the recent turn of events. Cracking his head open and getting it glued back together again was worth it as it had gained him invitation to Lisbon's apartment for the night. He didn't voice this opinion however, on the short ride to her home. He had a feeling that if he did, he might end up being slung out regardless of the doctor's orders.

"Thank you for looking after me," he spoke as she gave him a cup of tea and settled him down on her couch. "I appreciate it."

Lisbon shrugged as she curled up at the opposite end of the couch. "It's my job to. And besides it was my-"

"No, it wasn't," he replied firmly. "And anyway, are you saying you would really do the same for any of the others if this happened to them?"

"I would," she confirmed.

"You nearly kissed me again," he said lightly.

Lisbon studiously avoided looking at him. She hadn't expected him to forget about that awkward moment, yet for some reason, she hadn't expected him to bring it up again so soon either. Draining the mug of scalding liquid, Jane placed it on the floor before shuffling closer to her. His hands found one of hers and he was relieved when she didn't snatch it away for a change.

"I think we should pick up where we left off."

"You're the one that's high as a kite, not me," she muttered. "What makes you think I've changed my mind?"

"I haven't had that many painkillers," he retorted while pouting, "and you can't keep denying it, Teresa. Are you going to keep nearly kissing me every time there's a near miss?"

"That… that was just a temporary lapse of control."

He frowned.

"Why are you so determined to deprive yourself of happiness?"

"I am happy. I have a good job and my brothers. I have Pop…"

As if on cue, the golden retriever wandered through with her tail wagging eagerly, obviously looking for attention. She placed her head on her owner's lap and Lisbon removed her hand from Jane's grasp to scratch her pet affectionately behind the ear. Jane sighed irritably, though caved in when Poppy stared longingly at him and joined in with fussing the dog.

"You deserve more."

"By which you mean you."

"Why not?"

"That's rather egotistical of you, Jane."

"And you expected anything less?"

"Not really," she admitted.

"Just give us a chance, please?" he said, almost begging. "One month. If it really isn't what you're looking for, then at least we can say we tried."

"We keep it out of the office," she told him as she took away his emptied mug and headed towards her kitchen, with him hot on her heels. "That means completely out. No trying to surprise me with gifts, no displays of affection, no discussing where we want to go for a date. Nothing. And the same applies when we're working out in the field. We have to remain professional. Got it?"

As she washed the mug up in soapy water, he wrapped an arm around her waist and buried his nose into her hair, enjoying the lemony smell. He pulled the sheet of dark hair out of his way and placed a kiss gently onto the sensitive skin of her neck. She shuddered slightly to his touch but somehow managed to remain focused on her task in hand.

"You drive a hard bargain," he whispered before placing yet another kiss on her neck.

"I have to," she smiled in response. "If you do anything wrong, I will deny all knowledge of agreeing to this charade."

"I guess I will just have to behave then."

"You will," she agreed.

After hastily drying her hands on a nearby tea towel, she turned in his arms and placed a soft kiss on his lips, pulling away before he could attempt to deepen it. Lisbon knew that it was an inappropriate time to allow themselves to get led astray again.

"You've received a serious head injury, Jane…"

"It'll be something to tell the grandkids," he grinned while interrupting her. "I had to let your Nana cause me bodily harm before she agreed to start dating me. Let a woman beat you up, then she'll do anything for you."

He received an affectionate thump in response.

"Patrick, be sensible!" she replied. "You said a one month trial."

"Oh so you _can_ remember my first name then. I thought I was doomed to being referred to as 'Jane' for the rest of my life."

She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. "If you want to live to see said grandkids, I suggest you start behaving and go to bed."

"Says who?"

"Me."

"Is that a threat, Teresa Lisbon?"

"It's a promise," she grinned. "Now, bed."

"Will you be joining me?" he asked hopefully.

"No, I'll use the spare bedroom."

"Please?"

"I'll think about it," she replied while blushing slightly. "If you're good."

Sighing, he admitted defeat and began to shuffle towards her bedroom, picking up his night bag from the hallway.

"Oh and Teresa?"

"Yes?"

"Look who's talking about grandchildren now."

"It's your fault, you brought those hypothetical kids up."

"Any excuse."

"Jane!"

**TBC...**


	8. Stop Shutting Me Out

**A/N: **Yay, more Unbound. I'm really enjoying this fic, minor issues of writer's block aside. I'm getting back on a roll with it now, so it's all good. I'm finding it rather sweet the number of you trying to coerce me into not killing off Lisbon. For the record, I don't like the idea too, but the plot bunny keeps reminding me that that's the whole point of the fic. And plot bunnies have sharp teeth and claws. But it's not going to happen for a fair while still... so yay, I think.

Oh -- and despite this being an AU, I have somehow managed to include very, very minor spoilers for **2x03 - Red Badge**.

Thanks go to: lalez, Cordelia, Divinia Serit, Penelope Louise, Wisher93, mwalter1, dizzy - in - the - izzy, NellietheItalian, CaterinaCarmela, Madaboutthementalist, and HOUSEMDFanForever.

This chapter is for my marvellous beta, lil smiles, who does a fantastic job regardless of what she thinks and is a brilliant friend (and admin) to boot.

x tromana

**

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**Part Eight - Stop Shutting Me Out**

"Mmm, hello Teresa."

Quickly snaking one of his arms around her waist, Jane pulled Lisbon in closer making sure, however, that her office door was firmly shut before he enveloped her in the tight embrace. He buried his head in the crook of her neck, enjoying the sweet scent of citrus shampoo, before she pushed him off, thoroughly disgruntled. Attempting to ignore him as he approached her yet again, she gathered up the files that she wanted to take home. However, it was hard to ignore him as he ran his hands gently up her sides and his lips pressed relentlessly on her neck. She bit her lip in attempt to stop the smile from breaking out across her face; she was trying to be mad at him after all. For the past month and a half, he had dragged her away from work in just this way every day, not that she was complaining. She was beginning to accept that attempting to stop him was a lost cause anyway.

"Jane, not here," she murmured lamely, knowing full well her tone wouldn't convince anyone.

"Why not?"

"Because we're at work."

"Technically, work finished five minutes ago."

"And technically, we're still on CBI premises."

"No need to be pedantic."

"You're one to talk," she replied with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not as if you're attempting to stop me."

"I would if the others were still here."

Lisbon's cell phone started buzzing incessantly at she quickly held up a hand indicating that Jane should stop with his ministrations immediately. He pouted and flopped casually down onto the couch in her office. It wasn't quite as comfortable as the one he had out in the bullpen, he found, but it would be fine while he observed her taking this call. Quickly, he began to make plans to swap them over, especially since he liked the idea of spending a lot more time in her office rather than out with the others. The 'month's trial' had long expired, something they were both more than aware of and because Lisbon hadn't brought the subject up, Jane had no intention of doing so either. All that remained was persuading her that actually informing the rest of the team would improve the office dynamics as secrecy never went down well. The dopey grin he was developing soon fell into a frown as Lisbon's telephone call quickly entered the realms of fierce argument.

Eventually and looking very withdrawn, she ended the call. Scrambling to his feet quickly, he placed gentle hands on her shoulders, in attempt to massage out the tension that hadn't been there ten minutes ago. Glaring, she threw him off and stormed out of the room without another word. Jane frowned. Obviously Lisbon didn't want to discuss the call, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Knowing full well that he was following, she quickly glanced over her shoulder with narrowed eyes, feeling guilty that she was taking her foul mood out on him. Eventually, she stopped and turned around to face him.

"Minelli hasn't left yet, has he?" she questioned softly.

"No," he replied, frowning.

"Good, I need time off."

Ignoring Jane's protestations and requests for more information, she turned on her heel and stalked towards Minelli's office. Unfazed, he continued to chase her down and frowned when he reached Minelli's door, finding it locked. Obviously, as soon as she had entered, Lisbon had locked it behind her. It took him a couple of minutes to pick it and once the door had swung open, both agents glared at him. Lisbon quickly turned her attention back to Minelli, thanking him for his time before swiftly leaving. Jane too turned to leave, but the older man stopped him.

"You need to let her cool down," he informed him wisely. "You know what her temper is like."

"But…"

"Jane, you just barged into my office without invitation and she's still running away from you, doesn't that say something?"

Jane nodded dumbly as Minelli scrutinized him. He had been aware of the consultant's fondness for his feisty senior agent from the day that Jane had joined the CBI.

"Patrick, I know you two are dating," he continued softly, only pausing to suck in a deep breath. "I have no qualms with that. She's my best agent, look after her."

"She's not just your 'best agent' to you, is she?"

"No, she's not."

Minelli lifted his head slightly and Jane took the opportunity to leave. He glanced at his watch. Jane knew that she wouldn't bother to eat, not in the state she was in so immediately made plans for peace-offerings. Minelli was right. Lisbon wouldn't be in any state to talk, however much Jane wanted to. Jane was only mildly surprised at the older man's observations; he had assumed that nobody at the CBI knew about his and Lisbon's relationship, mainly at her request. He was the kind of person who would have loved to have shouted it from the rooftops. It took him an hour or so to get together everything he wanted before driving over to Lisbon's apartment. Shivering slightly, he knocked on her apartment door with a bag of hot food gripped firmly in his left hand.

"I brought Thai."

Lisbon, dressed in just her oversized football jersey, nodded warily before opening the door wider to let him in. As she turned her back to him and walked towards the kitchen, he allowed his eyes to wander over her figure before guiltily tearing them away from her. She shot him an inquisitive look over her shoulder and he quickly realized that he should be following her in. Jane remained silent as she pulled out a couple of plates and some cutlery from the cupboards. When they both sat down at the dining table, she let the slightest trace of a smile flicker as he pulled out the cartons of food.

"Coconut rice?" she asked.

"Of course."

"Good."

They ate in silence and Jane watched carefully as she cleared away the dirty crockery. Automatically, she switched on the kettle and made them each a cup of tea. They wordlessly wandered through to the lounge and once seated, Jane caught hold of one of Lisbon's hands, which she pulled back grudgingly. He hated it when she was in such a stubborn mood, it always meant that she was building her barriers against him yet again.

"What's wrong Teresa?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing as in something happened and you don't want to tell me or nothing as in nothing?"

"I'm _fine_, Patrick."

"Sure, that's why you practically ambushed Minelli after work and then ran away from me."

"Patrick…" she replied warningly.

"No, no, don't do this. Whatever the problem is you know you can tell me," he interrupted and grabbed a hold of her wrist again. "Stop shutting me out, there's no need."

"I think you should leave," she said frostily. "I need to be alone tonight."

"Teresa…"

"Go, now." She walked him to her door and forcibly pushed him out. "I'm not going to be at work tomorrow. You can tell the others."

The next morning, Lisbon dressed swiftly into the smartest of her black suits. It was one of those days that she hated with a vengeance as there were far too many bad memories associated with it. She didn't understand her brothers' obsession with living in the past and she was fairly certain that their parents wouldn't have wanted that. A sharp knock on the door indicated that her younger siblings had arrived and with a deep breath, she answered it.

"You want to drive, Tessa?"

"_Don't _call me Tessa," Lisbon growled and snatched the keys out of Edward's hand. "You know I don't like it."

Edward Lisbon grinned and straightened his tie. He loved it when he got the chance to see his sister and the opportunity to spend time with all of his siblings. Family meant a lot to him, especially since the arrival of his daughter. They certainly didn't spend enough time together and as they got older, they all seemed to drift further and further apart. It was a shame, but with two law enforcement professionals and the other two starting families, it always seemed to be an inevitability. They seemed to have an unspoken agreement that they met up three times a year, Christmas and the anniversaries of the deaths of their parents. It was easier that way.

"It's good to be together again," Edward eventually vocalized. "We haven't been together since the anniversary of Dad's…"

"No, not Dad's," Jacob, the youngest, snarled. "Teresa forgot, remember? She claimed she was 'too busy' afterwards."

"Jay…"

"I still don't understand how you got into the CBI in the first place."

"Jealousy isn't an attractive trait, Jacob."

"Don't even think about starting…"

"Let's just get this over with, shall we?" Lisbon sighed as she started the engine.

"Oh yeah, so you can hurry off back to work?" Jacob sighed. "When are you going to get yourself a husband, Teresa? It's not healthy for a woman to be married to her job. When was the last time you went on a date anyway?"

"It's none of your business," she growled.

There was no need to tell them about Jane yet. They'd only get overexcited about it and practically be marrying her off to the man anyway. Though she hadn't told Jane about it, she still wasn't entirely comfortable with their relationship anyway.

Meanwhile, Jane had situated himself on his couch in the bullpen. Almost as soon as he had informed the others that Lisbon had taken a day's leave, they had had to disappear to Minelli's office for some reason or another. He didn't particularly care what for as he was too busy trying to work out exactly what was troubling Lisbon. She had been fine minutes before that damn telephone call, so he was fairly certain that it wasn't his fault. It possibly had something to do with her family and he shuddered at the thought that he hadn't really asked about them before. He was beginning to find it disconcerting how little he knew about her past. She wouldn't even explain a scar on her back, simply claiming that she had a dangerous career and that a few injuries were an inevitability. She'd been lying to him then, but he hadn't chased it up, something he was beginning to regret. As he heard footsteps approaching him, he opened an eye and smiled briefly as three familiar voices came into earshot.

"Oh come on, they're definitely dating," Cho retorted. "And about time too. They've probably just had some kind of lover's tiff."

"No way, man, it's definitely because of that stupid trick he pulled on the suspect yesterday. The only reason she's not here is because she's clearing up after his sorry ass," Rigsby announced confidently.

"I don't think we should be talking about this," Van Pelt murmured as they eventually reached the bullpen. "She's our boss and he's Jane. It's inappropriate."

Ah. Office gossip. He should have expected that. Jane shifted his weight slightly and decided immediately that he wasn't going to set them straight any time soon. If he did, Lisbon might just kill him anyway.

**TBC...**


	9. I Need You

**A/N: **Okay, I'm really spoiling you guys. Two chapters in two days. I said I was on a roll with this, didn't I? Anyway, I'm going to take a brief break from this to update Better and then I will be back. Things are beginning to get fun with this one. Though, I think I might have added yet another chapter. Oops. This thing just keeps getting longer and longer. I swear it has a mind of its own!

Thank you to: lalez, lil smiles, CaterinaCarmela, Madaboutthementalist, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Lara, Divinia Serit, Penelope Louise and NellietheItalian for reviewing part eight.

This part's for Nellie. I know this isn't helping with your addiction, I'm sorry!

Thanks to lil smiles for a super fast beta job. You're awesome.

x tromana

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**Part Nine - I Need You**

Jane shivered as he sat on Lisbon's doorstep, just waiting. The sun had long since set and she still hadn't returned home. He hadn't expected that whatever it was she had to do, would take all day. A car pulled into the complex and Jane almost rose to his feet before he realized that it was a false alarm, immediately recognizing it as belonging to someone else who lived there. A few minutes later, Lisbon's elderly neighbour approached him, waving genially. It took him by surprise when the old man sat down beside him and placed a wrinkled hand on his shoulder.

"You're young Teresa's man, aren't you?"

"I… guess," Jane replied.

"That's good. It's good to see her happy. Doesn't do to see a pretty woman so sad all the time," the gentleman added. "Look after her."

"I do."

"I should hope so, because it's rather odd to have you sitting out here instead of inside her apartment with her."

With a final nod, the man rose to his feet once more, as quickly as his arthritic knees would allow him. Jane was left in stunned silence for a change and watched as the elderly gentleman shuffled away. Another car pulled in front of him five minutes later and three men and a rather familiar woman got out. He beamed and approached what was obviously Lisbon and her younger brothers. She sighed heavily when she caught sight of him but that didn't stop her from approaching him.

"Teresa," he murmured and went to catch her hand, which she promptly pulled out of his reach. "I've been-"

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?"

"Is this guy bothering you, Tessa?"

Jane smirked as Lisbon glowered at the youngest of the three men. The man, with equally dark hair and virtually identical eyes had already balled up his fists at the first sign of his sister's discomfort. Jane wiped his sweaty palms down his pants before approaching the youngest of the Lisbon siblings, hands open in a non-threatening manner. Of course he wouldn't want to hurt Lisbon. Why would he want to hurt her? Despite Jane's purposively relaxed body language, the other man remained tensed and suspicious and Jane found himself smirking again. Obviously mistrust ran in the family.

"Leave it, Jay," Lisbon muttered. "It's just Jane. I work with him."

"Jane as in that pain in the ass psychic jerk you moan about all the time?"

"The very same," she grinned. "And I don't moan about him all the time."

"You do complain about him a lot though," Edward piped up.

"Yeah, like all afternoon," Jacob added brightly.

Jane found the smirk that had been written across his features fell away quite easily. It seemed that Lisbon hadn't told her brothers that she was actually dating him and she wanted them to believe that she still only saw him as barely more than a colleague. With a significant amount of resignation, Jane shook the hands of all three of her brothers and glanced nervously at Lisbon. As she shooed them away citing that something must have come up at work, Jacob rolled his eyes excessively while the eldest, Matthew, chose to glare at him. Only Edward bid him farewell in anything resembling friendliness. Once they were out of sight however, Lisbon seemed to relax immediately and quickly invited Jane inside.

"Tea?"

Jane nodded as he spoke, "Are you okay, Teresa?"

"Oh, fine."

"Is this going to be a repeat of yesterday?"

"I've had a tiring day," she answered quickly as he tentatively wrapped his arms around her waist. "I hate this time of the year."

"Your Mom?"

"It's been twenty one years," she responded, offering the information surprisingly willingly.

"What happened?"

She froze in his arms.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, when you're ready…"

"I know," she murmured. "Stay."

"Are you sure?"

"I need you."

"Not angry at me turning up unannounced anymore then, huh?"

Quietly, she wrapped her arms tightly around him and he placed a soft kiss to the crown of her head, the tea completely forgotten about. Without warning, he scooped her up and laughed gently at her protestations at being carried. Annoyed, she punched him lightly on the chest, continually begging to be put back down. Eventually, he dropped her gently onto her bed and she scrambled into a sitting position, pouting slightly. Part of her still felt guilty for not opening up to him more, but even though they were technically in a relationship she still didn't quite trust him with every little detail about her past. Lisbon had never been one to wear her heart on her sleeve and to tell him everything would make her feel even more vulnerable.

"I think you need to sleep."

"Mmm, I agree."

He knelt beside the bed and quickly placed another kiss on the tip of her nose. Rising to his feet and heading towards the door, Lisbon whimpered and Jane turned to face her with a wistful expression.

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving you. I'm just going to tidy up," he quickly said. "Sleep well, Teresa."

Lisbon woke to a gentle knock on her bedroom door and stared blearily at her alarm clock, which was proudly telling her that it was half past five in the morning. She hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep at all, never mind for a good seven hours or so. After a second incessant knock, she shouted a quick 'come in' and Jane walked in, looking exhausted. It was obvious that he hadn't really slept the previous night. She frowned; it seemed his insomnia was playing up yet again.

"What's all this in aid of?" she queried as he brought over the tray filled with breakfast for two, complete with her mug of morning coffee.

"Can't I just bring you breakfast in bed without you getting suspicious?"

"No," she stated emphatically. "With you, there's almost always an ulterior motive."

"Ah."

"Well, what is it then?" she asked while picking up a piece of toast.

"I have to go away."

"For how long?"

"Three weeks."

"Three weeks?" she echoed.

Jane nodded. "I'm in talks for a slot on a television show."

"That means you'll be going away even more, won't it?"

"Yes," he replied. "You're not mad with me?"

"Why would I be? It's your career," she replied. "Even if I don't feel comfortable with the idea of you playing with vulnerable people's emotions, I can't take that away from you. It'd be like you telling me to leave CBI."

"Thank you."

Lisbon sighed and picked up her coffee and blew across it to cool it slightly before taking a quick sip. She couldn't help but wish that Jane had told her that he would be going away sooner, or rather, that he wasn't going away at all. He abused the trust of people like her, only less skeptical. People like Jacob. It was a case of him giving them hope, yes, but false hope and she didn't like the idea of what could happen if the truth was revealed. Patrick Jane was playing a dangerous game and she had a feeling that he couldn't really see that. Naturally, she hadn't breathed a word to anybody about the fact he wasn't actually psychic. He had trusted her with that rather important detail of his life and she wasn't about to break that confidence any time soon.

"Are you coming to work today?"

"I can't," he mumbled. "I'm sorry, but I leave this afternoon."

"Oh."

An hour and a half later and they drove in separate cars to the CBI headquarters. Jane claimed that he had left his cell phone in the office and that he had to pick it up before he left, but Lisbon didn't entirely believe him. She smiled slightly as he strolled towards her, with his hands in his pockets.

"You coming in?"

He shook his head.

"I found my phone," he said, grinning. "It was on the dashboard."

"I knew it," she muttered.

"Come here."

Tentatively, he pulled her in close and placed a kiss tenderly to her cheek, relieved that she didn't throw him off roughly. He smiled warmly as she blushed and gently stroked the tip of her nose.

"Stay safe," she whispered. "Please?"

"You look after yourself, too."

Van Pelt's jaw dropped and the red head found herself rushing as fast as her feet could carry her upstairs and into the bullpen. Breathlessly, she dropped her files on her desk and grinned at Cho and Rigsby, who appeared to be having yet another heated discussion on 'Chuck Norris vs. Mr. T'. Rigsby had brought the book for Cho as a joke a month ago and since then, the pair hadn't shut up about it. They stopped talking the moment they heard the clatter of paperwork falling onto Van Pelt's desk and both smiled warmly at her.

"What's wrong, Van Pelt?" Cho asked.

"They kissed," she squeaked and they both glanced at her, thoroughly bemused. "Well, Jane kissed Lisbon on the cheek, but that still counts, right?"

"No way," breathed Rigsby.

Van Pelt nodded furiously.

"I thought you didn't think it was appropriate to discuss such matters?" Cho interjected.

"That was gossiping, we have proof now."

"Women," Cho sighed.

"What's wrong with women?" Lisbon queried.

"Oh, hey boss."

Rigsby blushed and looked away and Van Pelt suddenly became very interested in her fingernails. Only Cho managed to hold his gaze on his boss, smirking ever so slightly. Lisbon glanced at the three of them suspiciously before sitting down at Jane's unused desk, paperwork in hand.

"Did you have a good day off?"

"Fine," she replied sharply. "Did you make any breakthroughs on the case yesterday?"

Rigsby nodded and the three of them proceeded to update her on what had happened in the past twenty-four hours. She hadn't even noticed Minelli walk into the bullpen, never mind the fact that he was standing behind her. He coughed to gain her attention and she quickly looked up at him.

"Hey, boss."

"Lisbon, my office now, please," Minelli stated.

With a frown, she excused herself from the discussion that she was having with the rest of her team. She had been enjoying hearing Van Pelt's theories on their latest case, even if she was already missing Jane. Quickly, she shook her head. He hadn't even been gone for a day and she was beginning to wonder just how she was going to get through the next three weeks. It was irrational feeling like that so soon and anyway, it seemed she had bigger problems. Minelli rarely interrupted them in the middle of a case after all, unless the D.A. was applying the pressure from above or it was a case with particularly sensitive issues. He usually briefed her just before or waited to discuss it until after it was closed. Fixing a nervous smile on her face and taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and entered Minelli's office.

"Sir, about Jane and I, we-"

"Calm down, Teresa, this isn't about you and Jane dating. I'm glad you've found some happiness," Minelli stated. "He suits you."

"Sir?"

She had been waiting some time to have to explain to somebody at work about the state of the relationship between her and Jane. There were many scenarios she had been expecting, the enforced transfer of Jane, him being fired, her losing seniority due to a flagrant disregard of rules. Having it brushed aside with little more than a hand wave was something that she hadn't even considered. She let out the breath she had been holding without realizing it as she sat down opposite her boss and mentor. The smile he had been wearing while he gave her his blessing quickly turned into a frown as he moved onto more pressing matters.

"It's about 'Red John'."

"Oh?"

"We can't afford to throw any more money at this for little to no return. I have to declare it a cold case."

"But we've only been working on the case for two and a half months," Lisbon stuttered. "We can't just give up that quickly, it's not fair…"

"I know it isn't," Minelli replied soothingly. "But we have nothing on this guy. No witnesses, not a shred of clothing or DNA. Nothing. The case isn't going anywhere and I can't waste what few precious resources I have on something like that."

"I just want to see justice served, for Stephanie Fieldston, if nothing else. Her younger sister tried to commit suicide again."

"I _know_, Lisbon. I do too," he stated again, feeling as though he was going around in circles. "My hands are tied."

"So what? We just let this bastard get away with what he's done and allow him to potentially strike again?" she seethed.

"I'm sorry," he muttered and dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

She glared at him before leaving without another word. When she returned to the bullpen, Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt were talking in hushed breaths, but quickly shut up the moment they realized she was back. Something was definitely up with the three of them and she didn't like it, not one bit.

**TBC...**


	10. Well, That Was Unexpected

**A/N: **I hate writer's block, as twin knows. She's been putting up with the brunt of my complaints. I also hate migraines, especially those with nausea. On the plus side, I've stopped attempting to look like Elphaba with Glinda hair now. I've kept the Glinda hair, of course. Er. I should explain. Saw Wicked for the first time at the weekend - was absolutely amazing. Dianne Pilkington = cutest thing ever as G(a)linda. And yes, it is my newest obsession... er. I get obsessed easily.

Can't believe this has already hit 10 chapters and 20,000 words. Slightly odd considering we're not even half way yet. *squeaks nervously* You guys aren't getting bored are you? Because I can pick up the pace a bit if necessary...

Thank you to: lalez, NellietheItalian, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Divinia Serit, Penelope Louise, CaterinaCarmela, wisher93 and Patrick for reviewing the previous part and of couse, lil smiles for betaing.

This is for dizzy - in - the - izzy. I hope this is a suitably fluffy chapter. Let's just ignore the end, fluff wise, shall we?

x tromana

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**Part Ten - Well, That Was Unexpected**

Three weeks later and Lisbon was getting a little sick and tired of the knowing smirks she was receiving from the rest of the team. Not only was she missing Jane terribly and it was a blessed relief that he would be home the next day, but she was certain that the team had worked out that she and Jane had forged a relationship of sorts. She sighed, knowing full well she needed to sort something out before the situation got completely out of control. The case they were working on was going slowly and they hadn't managed to find many breaks as of yet. Lisbon couldn't help but think that if Jane were there, they'd probably have closed it already. She knew she was a good cop and they could get there without his expertise, but it was just frustrating knowing that there was someone out there getting away with murder, literally. Still, the stakeout might give them a few answers and quickly she decided that she'd do it for a change. It would provide her with the perfect opportunity to corner one of them and get some much needed information. She decided Van Pelt would probably be best. After all, the rookie was young, enthusiastic and eager to please. Lisbon was also fairly certain that she wouldn't want to cross her boss.

The day went by smoothly and Lisbon soon found herself sitting beside an apprehensive Van Pelt inside the SUV, watching the perp's house with eagle eyes. She settled down in the car seat, periodically sipping on a cup of coffee, eyes not once leaving the house in front of them. Van Pelt, however, kept nervously glancing at her boss. Normally, stakeout duty was used as a punishment and she knew that Lisbon had threatened Cho and Rigsby with it a couple of days ago. However, she obviously seemed to have changed her mind as they were the ones who were going to be sitting there for an indefinite amount of time. The boss was definitely up to something.

"Has there been any interesting gossip in the office recently?" Lisbon asked lightly.

Van Pelt choked on her drink. Lisbon didn't even need to be looking at her for Van Pelt to know where this was going. She knew that she could always lie, but also knew that she'd be caught sooner rather than later.

"Well?"

"Er…"

"Come on Van Pelt, this isn't rocket science."

"Well, people have been saying that you and Jane _might_ be…"

"Yes?"

"In a relationship."

The last three words came out in a squeak and Van Pelt quickly buried her nose in the polystyrene cup, which was filled with a rather luxurious hot chocolate. She swore she could feel her boss's penetrating stare switch from the door in front of them to herself and it was making her feel incredibly uncomfortable and justifiably so. Suddenly, she felt extremely guilty. A close friend could quite easily kiss another on the cheek. It didn't necessarily mean that they were dating. She sighed. It would have been so sweet if they were though.

"Have you been helping the gossip along?"

"No, well, yes. I'm so sorry, Boss," she replied, shame-faced. "It's just that…"

Lisbon raised an enquiring eyebrow.

"You two do seem incredibly close," she admitted,"and he does look at you in a way…"

"He looks at me in a way?" Lisbon snorted, not quite sure why she was denying it. "You do realize just how ridiculous that sounds, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess so," Van Pelt mumbled, flushing a bright red, "but you have been missing him."

"Yeah I have," she admitted, before falling back into a restive silence. She suspected it was going to be a long night. As usual, she was right.

Come morning, Lisbon dragged herself into the CBI HQ, yawning sporadically, having reminded herself exactly why she hated stakeouts. Aside from her quick discussion with Van Pelt, nothing had happened and it had turned out to be a complete waste of her time. She cursed silently to herself when Van Pelt walked in behind her with a spring in her step. It was terribly unfair that she felt like she had a hangover minus the nausea purely due to sleep deprivation and the younger woman was her normal cheery self. Lisbon quickly slipped into her office, hoping not only to find some painkillers but that she would have a quiet day until Jane got back.

"Boss?"

"Come in, Cho," she shouted. "Have you found anything to implicate…"

"Yes, Van Pelt's worked out the money trail."

"Good."

Grabbing her jacket and instinctively slipping it on, she followed the Asian agent out into the bullpen. She walked purposively over to Van Pelt's desk when she felt a delicate tap on her left shoulder. Swallowing a shriek and turning around, she beamed as she was greeted with Jane's sunny smile. The other agents eyed the pair suspiciously and Lisbon swiftly made a very rash decision, partially due to sheer exhaustion. Her fingers deftly curled around the lapels of his jacket and rather quickly closed the gap between them. With a mischievous look in her eyes, she rolled onto her tiptoes and firmly placed a kiss onto his lips, much to the surprise of Jane himself as well as the rest of the team. That didn't stop him from responding, however. His arms snaked around her waist, pulling her in even closer, relishing in the contact he had missed so terribly. Eventually, he pulled away, breathless and gave her a cheeky wink. Jane had every intention of showing her just how much he'd missed her while he had been away that night.

"Well, that was unexpected," Rigsby spluttered.

"And that," Jane whispered, "is not keeping it out of the office, my dear."

"They were gossiping anyway," she hissed in return. "At least they have their answers now."

"It's about time you told us," Cho said. "I've known about it for a month. Not that the others believed me."

Lisbon left Jane in the bullpen to chat with the others, but not without stealing another kiss and insisting he left her alone until clocking off time. She had suddenly become very aware of the amount of work she still had to do, especially now she had a reason to go home on time. After all, when Jane had called the night before, he had told her that he wouldn't be home until evening. Jane seemed happy enough to update the others and chat enthusiastically about what he had been up to in his time away. The team were all suitably impressed with the recent developments, even if it did mean he would be spending less time with them.

At six p.m. on the dot, he knocked cheerfully on her office door. When she failed to reply, he tentatively walked in anyway, to be greeted with her jolting awake, with a post-it note stuck to her cheek. Smiling, he placed the bunch of roses on the desk in front of her and gently pulled it away, reading it with interest.

"Hmm, did you pass your message onto Minelli?"

Lisbon promptly ignored Jane's statement and moved onto more pressing matters.

"Flowers, Patrick? Really?" she asked, while stifling another yawn.

"Well, I would have bought you a kitten so that you and Pop didn't get so lonely next time I go away, but I didn't think your landlord would approve. One pet is probably enough."

Her lips curled slightly at the corners.

"I don't think Poppy would have approved either, for some reason."

"She probably wouldn't," he conceded and kissed her lightly on the nose. "Now, are we leaving or do you intend to spend the whole night here?"

She found herself unable to disguise a yawn for the second time and he chuckled in response.

"I'll take that as going home," he grinned and pulled her to her feet.

Despite her drowsiness, she still insisted upon driving back to her apartment. By the time Lisbon pulled up in the parking lot, she had woken up considerably. As she killed the engine, she noticed her neighbor, the same one who had had words with Jane before, standing by her doorstep and Poppy sitting by his heels with her tail wagging eagerly. Quickly, she glanced over at Jane before coming to a decision. With Jane on her tail, she rushed over to the elderly gentleman with a weary smile on her face.

"Mr. Peters…" she spoke, breathlessly.

"George, Teresa, call me George."

"Yes, sorry… George," she muttered, "would you and your wife be able to look after Pop for the rest of the night?"

"Of course, Dear," he replied, smiling genially. "Should I bring her back tomorrow night instead?"

"If you don't mind?"

"Certainly not. You enjoy yourself with your boyfriend."

She blushed and nodded in gratitude as he walked unsteadily away, his walking stick tapping against the concrete. As soon as her elderly neighbor and her dog had disappeared around the corner, she grabbed Jane roughly by the shirt and placed a crushing kiss against his lips. They barely made it inside before they started shedding their clothing, never mind her bedroom. Lisbon had been meaning to ask him exactly what had happened in L.A., but instead, they were both overcome with emotions that had led to their frantic urgency to just touch, feel, be with each other. Once sated, they curled up in one another's arms, both exhausted and more than ready to sleep.

When Lisbon awoke, it was still pitch black and her digital alarm clock informed her that it had just gone past three a.m. It took her about half a minute to realize that the reason she had woken up was because her cell phone was ringing incessantly. She smiled briefly as she carefully tried to extract herself from Jane's vice-like grip. Eventually, with some moaning and an elbow to the gut, he relinquished his hold so that she could answer the call. She frowned as she saw Minelli's name flashing on the screen and quickly pressed the device to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Lisbon?"

"Yes, Boss?"

"Sorry for disturbing you this early in the morning, but…" he sucked in a breath before he continued, "it appears that 'Red John' has struck again."

**TBC...**


	11. I Need to Get This Done

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay - too many projects and not enough time. Doesn't help when I distract myself either. On the plus side, part 12 should be up at some point next week, so there shouldn't be anywhere near as much of a delay as there was with this one.

Thanks to my brilliant beta, lil smiles and to: lalez, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Divinia Serit, WingfieldLegend, Penelope Louise, Laura, NellietheItalian, Rina-the-Brave and MrPatrickLee for reviewing part 10.

For Nellie - I hope things are okay and if not, pick up soon. *hugs*

x tromana

* * *

**Part Eleven - "I need to get this done."**

"Patrick…"

Lisbon poked him roughly in the side and Jane moaned in response, burying his head into the pillow. She repeated the action, stifling her laughter as he continued to complain. And to think that _he_ accused _her_ of not being a morning person. Then again, she had a sneaking suspicion that he had just enjoyed the best night's sleep in a good month or so and therefore, he could probably be forgiven. It wasn't as if she wasn't tired either; two nights in a row and she had only managed only a couple of hours sleep. She was well aware that once the hysteria died down and sheer exhaustion kicked in, she was going to be very grumpy indeed. Or possibly ill, which wasn't a particularly pleasant thought, but knowing her luck, would probably happen. It couldn't be helped though, it wasn't as if criminals worked to any particular time schedule.

"Patrick, we have to get up," she reiterated for what felt like the thousandth time.

"Damn it, woman, I just want to sleep."

"So do I, but we have a case."

"Oh how I hate those words at three a.m."

"It's _twenty past_ three already, now up."

"Do I have to?" he whined.

"Yes!"

An hour later and Lisbon quickly decided she kind of liked traveling to work in the same car as Jane rather than different ones. With a smile, she let her eyes quickly flicker across to her dozing passenger as she drove in the semi-darkness. Thankfully, in her opinion, the crime scene, which was one of those stereotypical motels that were seen in crime shows on television at least every other week, was only a mere thirty minutes from her home. Though she didn't mind setting up camp in whatever local PD they were closest to, she always preferred it when they could use CBI headquarters as their base. Everyone knew how things worked there and they didn't feel like they were getting in the way of the locals. Another benefit was that there were usually less arguments about just whose case it was.

"Jane, we're here."

He blinked slowly and stared at her, confused.

"Jane?"

"Yes, _Jane_," she repeated, "we're at _work_."

"So I can't call you Teresa then?"

"No."

"Just Lisbon again?"

"Yes, that old chestnut, if you must."

"And you're my boss?"

"Yes."

"I take it that is non-negotiable?"

"Not unless you want to be transferred to another team."

"I don't want to be transferred to another team."

"Well then…"

Lisbon smiled as she climbed out of the car to see Rigsby and Van Pelt yawning expansively at her. Jane eventually joined her, entwining his fingers with her own, which she proceeded to throw off. Despite the fact that the rest of the team knew, through her own doing, she was still determined to keep their professional life separate from their personal life as much as feasibly possible. Minelli approached her, looking unimpressed at the amount of time it had taken for them to arrive, but didn't mention his displeasure. Instead, he led them wordlessly to the body, which Jane approached tentatively, before leaning over with interest. Lisbon knelt beside him, automatically placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, which she pulled away suddenly when she realized what she was doing.

"Sir? How do we know this is Red John?" she asked, looking up at the somber director of the CBI.

"Same cutting style, same smile drawn in the victim's blood on the wall. And this note. I'll get a copy sent to you, Lisbon."

She nodded in response, mulling over the facts that had been thrown at her.

"Do we know anything about the victim?"

"Nothing," Minelli answered grimly. "We haven't been able to find any I.D."

"Oh, we know plenty," Jane interrupted. "The calluses on her thumb? She played guitar, probably acoustic. Her right bicep is significantly more built up than her left, which suggests that not only was she right handed, but she played some kind of sport which required lifting a significant weight with the one arm. I'd hazard a guess at ten pin bowling..."

"While interesting, the fact that she is probably a guitar-playing, ten pin bowler doesn't really help us with our investigation," Lisbon snapped, but immediately felt a little guilty.

"Half of her nails have been painted; no self respecting young woman would do that on purpose," Jane stated. "And she has a fiancé, which means someone will be particularly concerned about her location and she was caught off guard."

Lisbon nodded in response, relieved that Jane had finally decided to tell them something useful about their unnamed victim, especially as forensics had already stated that they expected the crime scene to give up as little information as beforehand. What intrigued her most was the reason why 'Red John' had chosen to kill her and if there were any links to the other known victim. After sending Rigsby and Van Pelt to talk to the reception staff, she stifled a yawn as she headed towards her SUV again. When she reached the vehicle, her hand dove into her pocket to find nothing. Spinning around, she glared at Jane who waved the keys triumphantly at her.

"Give them to me," she growled, not in the mood for games, especially as that headache she had expected had started to develop.

"No, you're half asleep," Jane answered. "I'm driving. And stop pouting, I'm not changing my mind."

Sulkily, Lisbon clambered into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut behind her. Thoroughly annoyed, she crossed her arms and attempted to ignore Jane as he drove them away and headed towards CBI headquarters, where Cho had agreed to meet them. Once they arrived, her mood failed to lift, despite the fact that Rigsby and Van Pelt had arrived shortly after them with the CCTV tapes from the motel and a list of all the people currently staying there. After setting the team to their tasks, most importantly the tapes and the identity of the victim, she closed herself in her office, hoping that they could finally get a break on this case. True to his word, she had a copy of the letter Minelli had stated was discovered at the scene of the crime. An hour later and she still hadn't deciphered much more to the meaning behind the words written in front of her and she felt like she was beginning to go cross-eyed. She sighed and pulled open the top right-hand draw, instinctively looking for some Tylenol. The headache that had been developing had decided to turn into a migraine. It was only going to get in the way of her job and the sooner she could combat it, the better. She quickly decided that it was definitely something to do with sleep deprivation.

"Teresa?"

"Jane," she sighed as he invited himself in. "What do you want?"

"To take you home."

"I need to get this done, it's only midday."

He placed a hand firmly on top of the sheet of paper she was about to pick up and plucked the highlighter out of her hand with ease. It took surprisingly little effort; usually if he tried to take something from her, she would fight back and grip hold of it as tightly as possible. The color in her face seemed to have drained considerably since they had gotten up at such an unholy hour that morning too.

"You need to get some sleeping done too."

"No, I…"

"Hmm, maybe you're right. Perhaps all you need to do is stay here reading the same word over and over again and not actually doing anything constructive."

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"So long as it's okay with Minelli."

"It will be."

"What?"

"You're sick and you know what he's like when any of his agents get sick."

"I'm not…"

"Okay, you're not sick. Just tired."

"Just tired," she echoed dully.

"Come on then, Sleepyhead."

Jane had ensured Lisbon was strapped safely into the SUV before he rushed off to inform Minelli that he was taking the lead agent of the Serious Crimes Unit home and there was nothing that he could do to stop him. It wasn't quite the permission that Lisbon had insisted upon, but it was close enough. Once at her apartment, he had to stop himself from laughing as she stumbled inside and eventually, he settled her down onto the couch, deciding that he wasn't going to leave her alone. There was little he could do back at CBI headquarters barring getting in the way. Besides, even though a migraine wasn't life threatening, he preferred the idea of keeping an eye on her. Knowing her, she would probably try and do something stupid like work from home instead of rest.

"Wha-?"

Lifting up her head lazily from the arm of the couch, she allowed her hand to trail haphazardly across the floor until her fingers came into contact with her cell phone. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust enough to focus on the bright screen, indicating that Cho was ringing her. She answered the call and pressed the phone firmly against her ear as Jane popped his head around the door frame, toothbrush in his mouth. With a quick glance at her watch, she threw the comforter off her lap. The fact that she had not only fallen asleep, but had been asleep a good seven hours or so was something that surprised her considerably.

"We have a location of a man caught on CCTV," Cho said as soon as she answered. "We think he's an accomplice of Red John's and Minelli agrees. We're just about to head out there."

"I'll be there in half an hour," Lisbon replied, instantly waking up. "Don't go in without me."

"Are you sure, Boss?" he asked. "You looked pretty rough when Jane took you home."

"I'm okay. Now what's the address? I'll meet you there."

It didn't take her long to spring into action and she was acting as if the migraine had never come to plague her at all. That didn't stop Jane from arguing with her decision all the way to the place that Cho had said they were to meet. He remained by the car, irritated, as Rigsby handed her a bulletproof vest and they updated her on the situation. Lisbon seemed to have slipped back into her role as boss with ease and she had definitely grown more comfortable with her relatively new position in the past month or so. It helped that they seemed a lot more close-knit since Hotchkiss had left, too. Jane felt like his heart had leapt into his throat from the moment she disappeared into the building with the rest of the team, and it was not helped by the shower of bullets he could hear from outside. When they all emerged, relatively unscathed, he breathed a sigh of relief. While Cho wrestled the suspect into a car, Jane took the opportunity to corner Lisbon.

"I don't want you going into situations like that again," Jane hissed, keeping his voice down so the others couldn't hear.

"What?"

"It's dangerous and I don't want to lose you."

"It's my _job_, Patrick."

"But-"

"No, I'm not arguing with you about this. You knew what I did before, before all this," she stated angrily, though not quite shouting. "If you can't deal with it, there can't be any… us… anymore."

**TBC...**


	12. You Can’t Mean That

**A/N: **Just so people know, this story is going to have to go on a temporary hiatus until after the Jello Forever Secret Santa is over at the very least. It seems I can juggle 2 multiparters and a oneshot collection but not the amount I'm trying to right now. I'm really sorry about this, but I promise I will get back to writing it as soon as possible. Keep an eye on the author's notes in my other fics for more information - as soon as I do start writing this again, I'll update you all in one of them.

Thank you to my long-suffering beta, lil smiles and: lalez, Divinia Serit, dizzy - in - the - izzy, KLynn07, yaba, MrPatrickLee and NellietheItalian for reviewing part 11.

This is for yaba, for going back and reviewing every chapter. It means a lot, hon.

Also: congratulations to Rina and Patrick on your engagement!

x tromana

* * *

**Part Twelve - You Can't Mean That**

"What? You can't mean that."

"I can and I do, Jane," she hissed as Van Pelt approached them. "I won't have you hindering my career just because you can't hold your nerve."

The red head had paused when she spotted the look in both their eyes, reluctant to come any closer. It wasn't until Lisbon beckoned to her that she actually joined the pair, glancing nervously at the ground while slipping off her bulletproof vest. Lisbon suddenly noticed that the throbbing pain had returned to her temples and rubbed them instinctively, hoping to alleviate the pain. Under her breath, she cursed, realizing that she had left her medication at home in their rush to their current location. Both Van Pelt and Jane watched on with concern, the pair of them remaining silent until she stopped massaging her head.

"Boss? We were wondering if you wanted to go home again?" Van Pelt stuttered, feeling slightly unsure of herself. "We can deal with Hicks and keep you updated?"

"That…" she stopped herself briefly. "That would be great, thanks. Take Jane with you."

She had been meaning to say 'that won't be necessary', but frankly, she had gotten to the stage where she was simply craving peace and quiet. Meaning, all she wanted was time away from Jane. Minutes ago, she would have been happy to slip her hand into his, to let him back into her apartment and further, even. But now, Lisbon just wanted to run away as far as possible, curl up into a little ball and allow the wracking sobs she was expertly burying, to overwhelm her instead of stubbornly ignoring them. Jane placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she spun around, throwing him off immediately.

"I can come with you."

"I don't want you to."

"Teresa…"

"Just leave me alone Jane," she snapped.

As Lisbon stalked off, Van Pelt placed a hand on Jane's shoulder and surprisingly, he actually complied with instructions. His heart ached as he watched her unlock the car and promptly drive away. Once he lost sight of her, he turned around and followed Van Pelt towards the van, slightly shell shocked at the sudden change in events. As they traveled to the CBI headquarters in silence, he slowly came to terms with what had actually happened. He'd overreacted and she'd, unsurprisingly, reacted badly to that. And it was all because of a hail of bullets. When they pulled up, he barely noticed that they'd arrived until Van Pelt, who seemed to have taken it upon herself to look after him, knocked on the window and jolted him from his reverie. All he knew was it was going to be a long night at work.

Jane actually found the questioning of Hicks boring. Yes, he seemed to know something about this mysterious Red John, but whatever it was, he wasn't willing to give it up. Besides, nothing actually tied him to the scene of the crime, other than the video tape of him being in the area of the second murder for five minutes or so, or either of Red John's poor victims. The name of the second victim had come through surprisingly swiftly and she was apparently Hollie Hutchinson. While they continued grilling Hicks, Van Pelt typed away furiously at her computer, trying desperately to find something, anything that could link Hollie to the Fieldston girl but nothing was springing up. Eventually, after a one a.m. telephone call to Lisbon, it was decided to let Hicks go - but to keep him under surveillance. Lisbon had a sneaking suspicion that something could happen to the weedy young man now that he had been questioned by them. Although she hadn't had the energy to elaborate further, the others were thinking along the same lines too. The man was definitely going to be seen as a risk by their murderer, whoever he was.

When Lisbon had arrived at home, she had found the peace and quiet a relief. With her head still throbbing, being alone, with just her dog for company was far preferable to all of the alternatives. She had run herself a bath, finding the scalding hot water almost relieving as she slipped beneath the bubbles. The day seemed to have progressed extraordinarily fast, but then again a lot had happened since three a.m. The urge to cry had disappeared as she had driven home and even her anger had subsided, leaving her simply exhausted. She could understand why Jane's protective streak had kicked in while they arrested Hicks, but that still hadn't given him the right to try and interfere with her career choices. There was something comforting about lying on her bed, with the golden retriever curled up at her feet, to the extent that she didn't even mind being woken up at one a.m. for a bleary eyed discussion with Cho.

"How are you, Boss?" Van Pelt asked at nine a.m. on the dot as she met Lisbon in the elevator first thing in the morning.

"Better, thanks."

The red head smiled brightly in response and returned to her desk as Lisbon disappeared into her office. A good night's sleep had worked wonders and despite what was going on with Jane and the fact that they had a rather elusive murderer slipping through their fingers, she was in a surprisingly good mood. Their floor of the headquarters was quiet and unsurprisingly so. Cho and Rigsby were still out tailing Hicks and Jane didn't seem to be in the mood to bait Van Pelt. But then again, she couldn't be sure what kind of mood he was in, because although she had done some thinking over the situation, she was still avoiding him, though she knew it was immature to do so. There was a knock on her door and she tore her eyes up from the form she was about to fill in to see Jane standing there, looking hopeful. Jane, who normally didn't bother waiting for permission to go into a room and just strode in like he owned the place.

"Come in, Jane."

She had to talk to him sooner or later and Lisbon knew that she'd rather talk to him in the relative privacy of her own office than tempt fate and have a blazing row in front of the rest of the team. It just wouldn't have been professional, acting like that, after all. Jane crept in, looking forlorn and took the seat opposite her with a surprisingly nervous air. The blond, ever the showman, seemed to have been stripped back down to a bundle of nerves. Had they been less annoyed with one another, Lisbon knew that she would have taken the opportunity to laugh at him. Initially, there was that terribly typical uncomfortable moment where they both attempted to speak at the same time and then blushed furiously. Eventually, after a nervous laugh and a wave of the hand, Lisbon nodded slightly and indicated that she was willing to let Jane take the lead in the conversation.

"Teresa, I…"

"Hang on a second."

Lisbon's telephone had decided to ring at just the wrong moment and Jane shut up virtually immediately. Placing the plastic receiver to her ear and pressing a button, she had already resumed her air of professionalism, making Jane feel somewhat uncomfortable. Her ability to compartmentalize emotions so effortlessly somewhat baffled him, especially when he compared her to other women, for example, Van Pelt, who wore their hearts on their sleeves. He jumped when she swore down the telephone before apologizing and thanking Cho for updating her. After she placed the receiver back, she entwined her fingers together and rested her chin on her hands, staring pointedly at Jane, waiting for him to talk.

"Uh, what's happened?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," she replied dismissively. "Now, talk."

"Well… I… I was wrong."

"You were," she agreed.

"I shouldn't have said that you should stop fieldwork… but I was scared."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"I suggest that I leave you guys to it when you're going into a risky situation."

"That would be wise," she nodded in agreement, allowing her hands to fall across her desk.

Jane took the opportunity to lace his fingers around hers and was thoroughly relieved when she didn't pull away. There was a difference in the way they were both acting. It was forced, more stilted, but at least they weren't tearing at each other's throats. But then again, he had also expected Lisbon to be angrier than she was. Instead, she just remained seated and heard him out. For some reason, he had a feeling that she would probably still hold it and use it against him again, however. Lisbon had noticed that he had somehow managed to apologize without actually saying 'I'm sorry' and naturally, had taken note of it. She still hadn't forgiven him as it wasn't in her nature to do so that quickly. But he'd been right; she wasn't ready to break it off, not yet and she certainly didn't want to risk losing what they had by falling at the first hurdle. All relationships had stumbling points and they were always going to argue sooner or later; it was only natural, after all.

"So, what's happened?" he asked, more than ready to change the subject.

"Hicks? He's been shot dead."

"Any sign of the shooter?"

"No. They just know it's a professional job."

"Red John?"

"Possibly. Perhaps he only saves the theatrics for the women?"

"Or he knew that Hicks was being watched?"

"Or both," Lisbon acknowledged. "Either way, if there was any more information we could have gotten out of him, we're not now."

"True."

Five hours (and a decent nap) later and a dour Cho and Rigsby returned to the office, fuming that they hadn't been able to catch the shooter. Van Pelt, however, was in good spirits, having managed to find out the location of the suspect from their other case, the one they had been working on while Jane had been away. Lisbon immediately sent them out to chase that lead, hoping that doing something productive would help lift their spirits while she, Jane and Van Pelt waited for the results from forensics and continued to dissect the links between the Red John murders. The day dragged by slowly, even with them getting a confession from the perp that Cho and Rigsby dragged in. At least they'd finally made an arrest on that month-long case, much to the relief of Minelli and the deputy A.G., she decided. They were beginning to suspect that it'd be one that would slip through their fingers. It was just frustrating that the Red John case seemed to be going from bad to worse, though.

"Te- Lisbon, Teresa…"

"Jane."She placed her pen down, relieved that she was finally signing off on one of the cases, at least. The backlog she seemed to be developing was horrific and she'd hoped to try and get some work done while it was still quiet.

"Van Pelt's just brought in a cake. We have just closed a case, after all."

"Oh."

"If you don't join in, they'll complain about traditions and all that."

Lisbon glanced at her watch and Jane's smile broadened slightly.

"Yes, we'd get away with leaving just after we've had a slice," he added. "Do you want to do something tonight?"

"Like what?"

"Let's play it by ear, shall we?" he questioned. "It's more fun that way."

**TBC...**


	13. Can I Join You?

**A/N: **Look what's back! Yes, don't faint. And I've already started part fourteen. I know, I know. It's a shock to me too!

Thank you so much for your patience with me with regards to this fic. I'm going to try and make sure I write it more quickly now though. And thank you to my beta lil smiles, who rocks.

Thanks to: dizzy - in - the - izzy, Divinia Serit, yaba, NellietheMarvelous (new name there?! Hah. Very nice.), MrPatrickLee and Penelope Louise for reviewing part thirteen.

For dizzy - in - the - izzy because there's fluff and she makes me laugh.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Thirteen - Can I Join You?**

In the passing months, Red John seemed to disappear back into the shadows again, something that Lisbon found overwhelmingly disconcerting. However, on a more positive note, Jane seemed to be genuinely sorry about what he had said and they hadn't had any issues with regards to her career since his last outburst. Though she didn't want to jinx anything, her life seemed to finally be going swimmingly. Jane also seemed to spend more and more nights with her and whenever he was away talking to clients or bosses of various companies, he found himself missing her terribly. It was unusual for him; he'd never been so attached to any particular person before. Even his father, who had been in charge of most of his upbringing, he'd tried to distance himself from at a terribly young age. The experience was new for both of them and it was taking them time to remember they could share and didn't have to hide every single problem they came up against.

"_Jane!"_

"What now?" he replied, cheekily.

"Space!"

The elderly couple they were talking to shared looks of bemusement as Lisbon glared viciously at Jane. She'd tried her best not to treat him differently at work compared to how they'd been before they were in a relationship, but naturally he made that task as difficult as possible. Lisbon was quickly discovering that Jane was a very tactile lover and he found it virtually impossible to keep his hands off her whenever they were together, regardless of how inappropriate the situation may be. On several occasions, she found herself throwing his arms off of her and attempting to distance herself from him, usually in vain. And of course, despite the fact that they were letting an elderly couple know that they had just caught their daughter's killer, he thought it was an ideal moment to choose to nuzzle her neck and lavish her with gentle kisses. Roughly, she shoved him in the stomach to give herself some breathing space and while trying to remain professional, shook the hands of both individuals.

"I'm very sorry for the lack of decorum that my _consultant _has just displayed."

"It's alright, dear," the woman replied, clasping her hand a little tighter than she probably should have. "Thank you for your hard work, Agent Lisbon."

They left quietly and Lisbon shut her office door quickly behind them. Turning on her heels, she immediately glared at Jane, who had perched himself on the corner of her desk, next to her seat.

"Jane," she hissed, "you don't embarrass me like that in front of the public."

"But Tea…" he whined.

An eyebrow immediately shot up in a mixture of surprise, horror and amusement.

"Tea?" she echoed, somewhat incredulously.

"I think it suits you," he shrugged.

"How so?"

He stood, quickly closing the gap between them and wrapped an arm around her waist. Jane smiled when she didn't throw it off, before placing a kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Well, I thought it was obvious," he started. "I love tea and I love _you_."

"That's terrible," she replied, promptly, struggling to keep the smile off her face. "Now go work; this isn't the time or place."

He quickly stole another kiss before leaving as instructed. Lisbon found herself cursing as she realized he had just somehow managed to worm his way out of yet another telling off with silly terms of endearment and proclamations of love. Still, she couldn't help but feel a little warm-hearted as she realized that it was the first time he'd actually said those three words. Having closed the case, they were able to leave early and Jane had already promised that he was going to cook her dinner. She was already anticipating that plate of hot chili that they always seemed to have in this situation. But it was still a couple of hours until that - she had an hour's worth of paperwork to complete first and was sincerely hoping that she wouldn't have any more distractions. When the phone rang, indicating an internal call five minutes later, she frowned. It seemed like the whole world was conspiring against her again.

"Lisbon," she spoke as soon as she had placed the receiver to her ear.

"It's Minelli."

"Oh, hi, Boss. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes. Meet me in my office in five minutes time," he instructed. "Bring Jane, too."

A frown quickly knitted across her brow.

"Yes, Boss."

She placed the receiver down, still frowning. Minelli had been sharp with her and that was very unlike him. Lisbon knew that her superior could have a short temper with people, but he rarely showed it with her. If she were still in school, she'd know that people would automatically label her as the teacher's pet because of his bias and she was silently grateful that she wasn't. There was absolutely no way she'd ever like to revisit her teenage years and all the hell associated with them. Regardless, it still didn't explain why Minelli was in such a blatantly foul mood with her. With a sigh, she pushed herself to her feet and wandered slowly into the bullpen.

"Jane?"

"Yes, dear?" he replied, rising to his feet. He hadn't even had time to get comfortable on his couch.

"Save that for later," she quickly replied, noticing that Cho was smirking in their direction. "Minelli wants to see us."

"Us?"

"Yes, us. As in both me and you. Now."

Lisbon left the meeting with Minelli feeling thoroughly humiliated. It seemed that despite what the woman had said to her shortly before leaving, she had lodged a formal complaint, based on Jane's behavior. Unsurprisingly, to Jane, it was just like water off a duck's back and he'd just told Minelli that the woman had been too uptight anyway. Still, if he didn't start behaving, it was obvious that he'd either have to be reassigned to another team or have to leave the CBI completely. Neither suggestion was particularly appealing and Lisbon found herself sulking all the way home. Even Jane's famous chili failed to cheer her up.

"Teresa, come here."

"Why?" she replied stubbornly, while elbow deep in washing up.

"Just come here, will you? Bloody stubborn woman."

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed a tea towel and quickly dried her hands and forearms. She didn't particularly want to stop doing the chore, not because she enjoyed washing up, but because if she didn't get it done almost immediately, she didn't know when she'd do it. Jane simply grinned. Once she stood in front of him, hands on hips, he swiftly wrapped his arms around her waist and placed a kiss on the crown of Lisbon's head. She glared up at him.

"And how exactly was that supposed to help?"

"You need to stop worrying. Minelli's not going to do anything about us. We close cases."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"But the complaints…"

"Meh, he'd rather deal with a thousand complaints and keep the highest closed case record. _We_ make him look good."

"We also make him look bad," she snapped back, staring at him. "You need to start behaving."

"But…"

"For me?"

She stared at him pleadingly and Jane released her momentarily, nodding in agreement. Lisbon wasn't sure just how long he would keep his promise or even if he would at all. Smiling slightly in response, she wandered back over to the sink and picked up the plate she had been cleaning earlier.

"Why don't you move in?" she asked suddenly.

Jane propped himself up on the counter beside her and observed her curiously.

"Are you sure, Teresa? That's a big step…"

"You pretty much live here anyway," she shrugged. "You just don't have a key yet."

"If you're sure…"

"I am," she confirmed, before flicking some soap suds in his direction.

"Oh, this means war," he growled.

Within seconds, they descended into chaos, flinging soapy water in each and every direction. Jane beamed; it was good to see her smiling again. He just hoped that come tomorrow evening, she'd still be smiling. He'd been considering asking a very specific question for about a month or so now, but was still wondering whether or not it was too soon to be thinking about that. As she dumped a bowlful of lukewarm water over him, he shook his head and somehow managed to pin her against the wall. It wasn't long after that, they somehow found their way to bed.

Several hours later, Lisbon found herself feeling around in the pitch blackness for her cell phone, desperate to try and stop the painful shrilling tone from echoing around the room. Once she was triumphant, she sat up, much to Jane's disgust and answered the call while switching on the lamp on her bedside table simultaneously. As Jane grumbled incoherently, she clicked the piece of technology shut again and elbowed him in the side.

"Seems like someone doesn't want us to have a good night's sleep again," she said, smirking. "Come on, Patrick. Up."

"Why is it that whenever we seem take a step forward in our relationship, we get a case in the middle of the night?"

Lisbon shrugged and bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at Jane, who was struggling to focus with bleary eyes and a petulant frown.

"It's four a.m. We'd have got up in an hour anyway."

"So?"

"So, we're just going in an hour earlier."

"I hate work."

"I know you do," she replied, petting him gently on the head. "I'm going for a shower."

"Can I join you?" he asked hopefully.

"Jane…"

"I thought it was _Patrick _at home?"

"Ugh, you're impossible," she huffed. "I'll be out in ten minutes. If you're not up and making me coffee, I'll…"

"I'll be up," he interrupted. "I don't like you without coffee."

"Good," she replied, heading towards the door.

"Teresa?"

"Yes, Patrick?"

"Did Minelli tell you what the case was about?"

"I'll fill you in later," she smirked, "once you've woken up. You seem to need tea to be able to operate properly."

Within a flash, he was out of the bed and his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. Gently, he placed a kiss on her neck and was delighted in the way that she shuddered in his grasp.

"Oh, but there's only one kind of Tea that I want right now."

**TBC…**


	14. What Have You Done Now?

**A/N: **Don't you feel spoilt? Two chapters of Unbound in less than a week. Hahaha. And why does everything seem a little funnier when it's 4.45 am? Don't ask me why I'm up now, I do NOT have a clue.

Thanks to: raquelvalente91, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Penelope Louise, WingfieldLegend, lisbon69, yaba, HOUSEMDFanForever, NellietheMarvelous, Divinia Serit and Chiisana Minako for reviewing part 13.

And thanks to lil smiles for betaing. Ugh... tired already, but I know I won't sleep. Boo.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Fourteen - What Have You Done Now?**

Lisbon allowed her fingers to run through the various sheets of paper enclosed in the manila folder. When she had first heard Minelli's voice on the other end of the line, she had initially suspected that Red John had struck again. It was only natural because whenever she received a middle of the night telephone call, it almost always seemed to be regarding the serial killer these days. To hear that somebody else was responsible was almost a relief, it made them feel more tangible, less elusive. She shook her head, disgusted by her own thoughts. Regardless of who the culprit was, someone had still died and it was her job now to make sure that the killer was brought to justice. It's what she has dedicated her life to for so long now, after all.

They'd already seen the body of the Caucasian male, mid-forties, at the crack of dawn and whoever had carried out the murder, certainly hadn't planned it. Nor had they done a particularly clean job, a fact that made their lives somewhat easier. Lisbon had stood, watching as her team carried out their duties. Something had happened between Rigsby and Van Pelt, though what, she couldn't be certain. The rookie was courteous to Rigsby, by all means, but there was something in her eyes that stated she was angry with the arson specialist. When she felt Jane's hands on her waist and he whispered confirmation into her ear, she had to swallow down a smirk. It seemed that some of his skills had been rubbing off on her. Still, it was a relief to be back at the office, on her own, researching the paper trails as she had done so regularly under Agent Bosco. Rigsby and Van Pelt were scouring the victim's office at work, a good experience for them both and it provided them with a good opportunity to thrash out whatever it was that was going on between them. Cho and Jane, meanwhile, were meant to be questioning the victim's family. She'd specifically sent him away with the Asian agent as she needed a short break from him, if only for a while. It was just a shame that her phone had to ring every five minutes, disturbing the peace.

"Lisbon."

"It's me."

"What do you want, Jane?"

"This is boring, this woman doesn't know anything."

Lisbon tapped a pen against her desk, busying her free hand while the other cradled the telephone by her ear. The moment she had seen who was calling, she had frowned slightly. She couldn't deny that it was kind of sweet that he wanted to speak to her constantly, but she needed some privacy. Peace and quiet. A break from his daily insanity. It didn't help that she was growing suspicious. Apart from being unable to keep his hands to himself, Jane hadn't pulled a crazy stunt for a while so she was fairly certain that he was due to pull one off without a moment's notice.

"Jane?"

"Yes, Teresa?"

"Go speak to Cho. You're meant to be working, as am I."

"Fine."

"Stop pouting."

Jane froze for a second.

"How'd you know that I was pouting?"

"You always do whenever I tell you off."

"Tease."

"Troublemaker," she replied promptly. "I'm putting the phone down. Now, behave, okay?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"That's boring."

"Tough, I'll see you when you get back."

An hour later and Lisbon nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of a crash coming from the bullpen. Rigsby and Van Pelt had arrived back about half an hour earlier and were already at work on their computers and stubbornly ignoring one another. She was certain, however, that neither of them were responsible for the noise. Hurrying out of the room, she spotted Jane kneeling in the middle of the bullpen, surrounded by a menagerie of files relating to the case. She approached tentatively, unsure as to whether or not he had dropped them on purpose.

"Teresa!" he called brightly, once he spotted her hanging warily near Van Pelt's desk.

"It's Lisbon at work, Jane," she called back wearily. "Lisbon. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"What? Even if I'm going ask for your hand in holy matrimony?"

"Ye- what?"

"I think he just proposed, boss," Cho remarked as he sat down at his desk with a coffee in hand and Van Pelt nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"…oh."

"Oh?"

"Well, it's not… what… I was expecting."

She could feel her cheeks burning as everyone watched her expectantly and knew that she had flushed a rather brilliant shade of pink.

"But…"

There appeared to be a collective intake of breath and had she the opportunity, Lisbon was certain that she would have laughed.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, okay, if you wish to ask me to marry you while we're at work, you may call me Teresa."

Lisbon knelt beside him and began to help shuffle the papers together. The rest of the team looked on in bemusement, not quite sure what had just happened. The brunette was right, he hadn't exactly asked yet; he'd simply asked if it was alright for him to use her first name if he were to propose. But whatever was going on, it was typical of them. Rather sweet but completely and utterly confusing. With a sigh, Jane crawled over to Lisbon and plucked the paperwork out of her hands with ease. He prodded her in the side and she stared at him, wide-eyed.

"I believe you're meant to be standing up for this part."

"Jane…" she whined, unimpressed by the spectacle they were causing, not to mention having her brain finally catching up with her mouth. "Are you sure this isn't too soon?"

"I'm ready, if you are."

Not entirely sure what she was agreeing to, she nodded slightly, rolled her eyes out of sheer irritation and rose to her feet carefully. Jane beamed in response and ensuring that he said them as loudly as possible, he uttered the four words: "Will you marry me?" She didn't even have a chance to reply with a simple 'yes' before the round of applause began and Jane had stood, throwing his arms around her waist. After they shared a quick kiss, Lisbon gently pushed him away and the blond let go rather willingly, quickly revealing a simple diamond ring in his right hand which hadn't been there before.

"Hey, where'd…" she started before narrowing her eyes. "That was in my pocket, wasn't it? You put that in there this morning before we left for work."

"I did," he grinned. "D'you like it? And are you going to let me put it on your finger or not?"

"It's beautiful, _Jane_," she answered and obliged by holding out her left hand, beaming unashamedly as he slowly slid the ring on. "Now that we've got over all these hysterics, we have work to do. This case isn't going to solve itself."

"Oh that's what you think," Jane stated.

He headed towards his couch, sat down as if testing the give before swinging his legs up onto the arm and reclining backwards. Ignoring the mess that she had started cleaning up before Jane had proposed, she stormed towards him, hands on hips.

"Jane, what do you mean?" she queried. "What have you done now? Is this another one of those cases where you think you'll have the murderer coming to us within a set period of time? You haven't done anything _illegal _have you? Jane!"

"Of course not, dear."

"Jane," she growled at him, glaring.

"Lisbon," he rectified. "Hey, when we get married, will you be changing your name? Or will you just change your name personally? Or should I change my name? Patrick Lisbon has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Stop changing the subject."

"Calm down, woman, I haven't done anything _wrong_."

"Then what have you done?"

"The son did it."

"I thought you said your visit to the family with Cho was boring?"

"Oh it was," he answered, somehow managing to wave dismissively from his lying down position. "Because you weren't there. No offense, Cho."

"None taken."

"He's going to kill me later, isn't he?"

"He is," Lisbon agreed.

"I am still here, you know. As is the rest of the team. And half the CBI."

"Are you going to tell me how you came to the conclusion that the son did it?"

"Later, he's here."

Jane nodded behind her, where a nervous seventeen year old was shifting from foot to foot. After instructing Van Pelt to pick up the paperwork that was still strewn across the floor of the bullpen, she approached the boy and invited him into one of the interrogation rooms, with Cho and Jane following behind. Much to her surprise, he admitted everything within seconds, right down to where they could find the murder weapon, not so cleverly hidden in his bedroom. Despite the case being closed, Lisbon found herself frowning. It wasn't the fact that they had found the murderer within twelve hours, they'd managed that before, it was more of a case of how and why the boy decided it was a good idea to come clean. Even once she got home and was relaxing on the couch, curled up in the arms of her new fiancé, it was troubling her.

"Stop thinking," Jane whispered. "I can hear the cogs whirring in your mind."

She smiled slightly as one of Jane's fingers lightly brushed her cheek and she found herself burrowing into his arm even more. Though she knew full well that she could not only look after herself, but look after him as well, there was something comforting about the position they had found themselves in.

"How'd you know though? How did you know he was going to confess?"

"I just planted a thought in his mind and voila…"

Jane twisted his free hand theatrically in the air, as if performing some kind of magic trick. Lisbon smirked in response and batted his hand down before yawning expansively. She smiled when Jane placed a kiss on her forehead before scooping her up in his arms, her clinging to his neck and shoulders for dear life.

"I think somebody needs her bed."

"Hmm…"

"And maybe we _won't_ get woken up at the crack of dawn…." he contemplated as he carried her upstairs.

"Are you sure this is right, for us?" she interrupted. "I mean this is a huge life changing…"

"Are you happy?"

"Mm hmm…"

"I think you've answered your own question there," he grinned. "Besides, I heard that long engagements were all the rage these days."

He placed her down on the bed and slipped his shoes off before kneeling beside her.

"Now, are you going to behave or…"

"I reckon that's a trick question," she smirked, "and that whatever I answer, you would want to have your own wicked way with me."

"Now _that's_ the right answer."

Lisbon smiled contentedly and reached over to stroke Jane's cheek. As he leaned in to kiss her throat, she beamed outright. Today had been a good day. Confusing, but all in all, good.

**TBC…**


	15. Something Like That

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay! It's my own fault, deciding to write a multiparter for the Jello Forever monthly challenge. Not intending to do that again for a while. I'm not going to make any promises with updating because I know what I'm like with breaking them, but I hope to update soon. Just so long as Pretty Lies doesn't get too out of control.

Hm. Anyway.

Thanks to Rach, as always, for sorting out diabolical mistakes and keeping me on track and to: Divinia Serit, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Chiisana Minako, lisbon69, WingfieldLegend, yaba, Penelope Louise, NellietheMarvelous, chocolatefan, Rina-the-Brave and kathiann for reviewing part fourteen. Especially so to Kathi for catching up and reviewing every chapter. Thank you!

x tromana

* * *

**Part Fifteen - Something Like That**

"You will be back by the weekend, won't you?"

She stared at Jane imploringly as he slid his suitcase into the baby blue Citroen. Closing the trunk firmly, he turned around to face his fiancée, surprised at the level of concern that was present in her eyes. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close, nuzzling his head into the crook of her neck. Lisbon sighed contentedly, before pushing him off. These days, it took more than just a gentle touch or two to throw her completely off her train of thought. Jane still hadn't answered her and she wasn't going to let him leave for the airport until she'd received one.

"Yes, I will be back," he answered, as he took hold of her hand and stared lovingly into her eyes. "You know you can trust me, Teresa."

"Says the man who lies for a living."

Her tone was skeptical and when she saw his face fall, she immediately regretted her words. She hadn't meant to be so callous, but it was true. As far as the rest of the team were concerned, their consultant was a bona fide psychic, with connections to the 'other side' and his clientele list was growing larger by the month. That in turn meant that he was traveling more, spending less time at the CBI and less time with her. She'd kept her word when it came to refusing to hold him back as the only real threat they'd had to their relationship was their differing opinions on their respective careers. That didn't stop being separated from him for so long from stressing her out though and a part of her wished that he could just work fulltime at the CBI, with her.

"Patrick, I…"

Quietly, Jane let go of her hand and instead climbed into the car without another word. As he drove away, she wasn't quite sure what had happened. One minute, they'd been fine and talking like civilized human beings and then the next, she was left staring at the spot where his car had previously occupied. They hadn't even shared a goodbye kiss, all because of something she'd said. Eventually, she gathered together her emotions and headed indoors. Regardless of arguments, her work was a never ending mess and she didn't have time to procrastinate on what had just happened, however much she wanted to do so. In fact, she actually hoped there would be a case she could really get her teeth into to distract herself, even if wishing that people would do harm to one another was a slightly morbid thought.

"Hi, Boss!"

As if on cue, Van Pelt bounded up to her the moment she set foot in the bullpen. The younger agent couldn't be faulted for her determination, but sometimes, Lisbon couldn't help but wish that she would calm down just a little bit. Her desire to impress was a little exhausting at times. It also didn't help that the red-head was the very definition of an 'eternal romantic', constantly questioning the progress of her and Jane's relationship. Well, she would be less than impressed with what had happened earlier.

"Good morning, Van Pelt," Lisbon sighed wearily.

"How are things with Jane? It must be awful saying goodbye to him for a whole week, considering you've just got engaged…"

Lisbon's eyes darted to the ground as her hand darted up to the base of her skull, rubbing it absent-mindedly.

"Yeah, something like that."

Five hours later and Lisbon found herself almost dying of boredom. Every five minutes or so, she stared reluctantly at her cell phone, willing it to go off. Jane had promised that he'd either call or text her as soon as he landed but thus far, he'd done neither. She picked up the object, running her fingers over the smooth case and buttons before her index finger hovered over speed dial one. Shaking her head, she decided she was being irrational. Either the flight had been delayed, or he was busy being whisked from studio to studio or something like that. Besides, all the facts and figures stated that flying was by far one of the safest modes of transportation and she should stop being so damn irrational. As she went to place the phone back in her pocket, it started ringing shrilly and she jumped slightly. Regaining her senses, she nervously checked to see who was calling and her face fell when she noticed it was her brother, Matthew.

"Hi Matt," she quickly answered, hoping to get rid of him sooner rather than later. Work was no place to being taking personal calls. "I don't have much time…"

"You never do, Tessa," he snapped. "You didn't even have the time to tell me that you were engaged to that Jane, never mind dating him."

"There's no need to be like that."

"I told you I was engaged the same day that Kat said yes."

"I _know_, Matt. It just happened so fast."

"That's always your excuse."

"Is there any point to this phone call or did you just ring to have a go at me?"

"Kat's not coming this weekend. Her sister went into labor early and she's gone to see her new nephew like a good sister should," Matthew announced proudly. "I would have gone with her but seeing as an invitation to see you comes around once in a blue moon, I thought I would join her a few days later."

"Nobody's forcing you to visit."

"You obviously don't want to talk. I'll leave you to do whatever it is you do. Paperwork mainly, isn't it?"

"I don't just do…" she started to retort, but shook her head. "Whatever. Fine. See you this weekend."

As she ended the call she breathed a sigh of relief, not just because she'd finally gotten rid of her younger brother, but because Jane had finally text her to say he'd landed safely. The message was short and sharp and it hurt her to think that he still held a grudge over a poorly phrased sentence. Just when she thought things wouldn't get any worse, Cho hurried into her office stating that Red John had made yet another appearance and they had to go down to the crime scene as soon as feasibly possible.

The week dragged by painfully slow. As always, nothing seemed to crop up where Red John was concerned. Minelli was applying pressure to get results and Jane continued to be distant, always finding excuses to avoid talking to her. To make matters worse, a reporter determined to get a scoop had hounded the team throughout the case, asking impertinent questions about why Red John was still at large. The crapstorm that had followed in the newspapers had put them all in a foul mood and Lisbon couldn't even bring herself to sit through Jane's first TV performance. It didn't help that she couldn't shake the dread at that the news reports would probably have informed the serial killer of the team who was working on his investigation. That could only be bad news for all five of them.

On a sodden Thursday morning, Lisbon headed straight to her office to try and get her thoughts together once more. She had a meeting with Minelli, what she assumed was to do with the latest media outburst, which she was dreading. Considering how the farce had been dealt with, she wouldn't be surprised if he had them removed from the case to bring a fresh set of eyes to it. Head buried in her hands, she didn't notice when her office door was slowly pushed open and she jumped when she felt a strong pair of hands on her shoulders. Turning around, her gaze softened when she spotted Jane, home a day early, smiling warmly down at her.

"You're tense, woman," he murmured and she relaxed into his touch as his fingers worked at her shoulders. "You need to learn to relax."

"You're not mad with me?"

"No."

"But…"

"I overreacted."

"Oh," she replied, feeling slightly off-balanced. "You should have told me sooner. I was…"

"I know," he answered. "You've had a bad week."

"It's only going to get worse."

"Oh yes. When do they get here?"

"Tomorrow evening."

"It won't be that bad."

"You don't know my brothers."

"Have you eaten today?" he questioned and she stared at him, mouth agape. "You haven't, have you?"

"I have a meeting with Minelli in half an hour."

"That's no excuse," he sighed, wondering just how well she had looked after herself while he'd been away. "Good job that there's a meatball sub in the fridge with your name on it."

"If Rigsby doesn't get there first."

"Oh, I bought him one too."

Jane ushered her towards the door, insisting that she should eat and then head over to her meeting with Minelli. As she ate in silence, he watched her with eagle eyes, reminding her that despite everything that had happened with the reporter and Red John, she was good at her job and Minelli would take that into consideration. When she eventually left, he placed a gentle kiss to her lips, which despite her desires to keep displays of affection out of the office, she reciprocated surprisingly willingly. Jane waited outside, nervously, hoping that she wouldn't be in too much trouble. Just ten minutes later, she left the office and smiled brightly at him and he quickly enveloped her into a tight hug. Eventually, she pushed him away, still grinning.

"What did he want?"

"To tell me that he's a taking some leave to visit his sister," she answered quickly. "He wants me to do his job for the fortnight."

"And what about Red John? The bad press?"

"The bad press will go away and he still thinks we're doing fine with Red John."

"See? I told you not to worry."

"Oh shut up, you. I have to go talk to Bosco, he needs my help with one of his cases."

As soon as Lisbon had finished looking at Bosco's case, one she'd been vaguely familiar with because it was one of the first she'd worked on when she'd joined the CBI, she headed back upstairs. At the beginning of the day, she had felt terrible, but the meeting had been fine and Jane was back. She headed towards her office and froze with the sight she was greeted with. Determinedly, she walked towards Jane and Rigsby, arms folded tightly across her chest, mock-annoyance written across her features.

"Jane!"

"Yes, Teresa?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Moving my couch into your office," he replied brightly. "Why?"

Shame-faced and trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, Rigsby dropped the other end of the couch and glanced nervously between the consultant and his boss. She was obviously seething and it wasn't helped by the fact that Jane continued to grin at her. When Jane had approached him to ask for help with rearranging the furniture, he was certain that he had said that Lisbon had agreed to it. Now, as he looked at the petite agent, he was beginning to feel rather guilty. Obviously she hadn't and he cursed himself for falling for yet another one of Jane's mind games. They've been working together for long enough that Rigsby had thought he was above being caught out by them by now.

"Why would you want to do that?" she hissed.

"Well, as we're engaged, I thought I'd rather nap in here with my fiancée rather than out in the bullpen with the rest of the team."

"And what if, as your _boss_, I'd prefer my private office to remain private?"

He ran a hand through his unruly blond curls.

"Ah, I hadn't really thought of that."

"Rigsby, help him take it back, will you?"

"Yes, Boss. Sorry, Boss."

As they lifted it back up and shuffled back in the direction they had came from, Rigsby mouthed a quick 'I thought you said she agreed to it' in Jane's direction.

"And bring the other one back in, will you?"

Lisbon smiled, relieved that the insanity of the past week was finally over. She smirked as she sat on the desk, watching as Rigsby and Jane brought back in her couch, both looking rather shame-faced. Shaking her head slightly, she picked up a file and started flicking through it with interest. At least they'd reconciled and now, all she could hope was that the weekend wouldn't end up in complete shambles. Regardless of how well they got on, she knew she could guarantee a constant barrage of questions relating to prospective dates, wedding planners and babies.

**TBC…**


	16. Where Is She?

**A/N: **I am so, so sorry for the delay. But! It's not entirely my fault. Well, maybe it is. Because this chapter is so sugary sweet that Rach actually had to suffer through the apocalypse because it gave her tooth problems. Or maybe that's just natural? I'm not so sure. Maybe it's a bit of both? Anyway...

The next chapter will be quicker because it's already written. Hah! It just needs to be made awesome by Rach. Who is awesome and sick and deserves lots of hugs in response.

Thanks to: yaba, dizzy - in - the - izzy, kathiann, Divinia Serit, simonisthecutestmentalist, Koezh, NellietheMarvelous, Nick Tarostar and TeresaAmeliaJane for reviewing part fifteen. And thank you so, so much for your patience. I'm not going to stop writing this fic any time soon, but it does seem to take me a long while to write from chapter to chapter because I get distracted by shiny things (read: other fics).

**x tromana**

* * *

**Part Sixteen - Where Is She?**

Jane frowned as he leaned back into the padded bench, ignoring the cola that was slowly becoming flat in front of him. Fishing into his pocket, he smiled slightly as he pulled out a velvet box. He opened the ring case and closed it again before putting it back yet again. Lisbon had insisted that he should be the one to pick up the simple golden bands and now they were weighing heavy in his breast pocket. Though he simply couldn't wait for the moment when they would both be wearing them, he knew that her brothers were going to kill him. It had taken him almost a year to win all three of them over, with Matthew being the most difficult. And just when they were supportive of her decision to marry him, they were going to pull this stunt. He shuddered at the thought of their reaction, when she actually told them they had married without them being present, event though it was what she had wanted. No fuss, no frills, just themselves, a couple of witnesses and the registrar. Though she was religious, she had told him that she simply hated the idea of getting married in a church and being the center of attention. The very concept made her skin crawl and she needed something much, much quieter.

That was the very reason why they were eloping, like two star-crossed lovers.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, in their personal lives, at least, she would be Teresa Jane. They'd discussed the whole name thing already. She was going to retain her surname at work, to reduce confusion and maintain professionalism, but behind closed doors, it was another matter. Then again, over the past couple of years, during their engagement, Jane had learned that Lisbon was very different in private. She was…

He paused. A blonde woman was staring at him expectantly. Jane hadn't realized he'd been wearing a rather dopey smile while contemplating the many facets of his fiancée. Obviously she had misconstrued his expressions as something very different.

"Hi."

"I'm just go…"

"No, you're not," she interrupted, in a breathy tone. "May I join you?"

"No."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because I'm getting married tomorrow."

"You're engaged?" the blonde pouted slightly before recollecting her thoughts. "Well, I suppose that means you can still have a bit of fun before you get tied down to one woman."

He pushed her away, absolutely disgusted with her actions. At least the persistent blonde reminded him of why he didn't usually like spending time in bars like these. But Lisbon had insisted that they spent the night before their wedding separate as it was traditional. This was the closest place to his hotel room and he hadn't much fancied the idea of spending all night in there alone, even if it did mean nursing a drink while other people drowned their sorrows for various reasons. People-watching had seemed like a suitable compromise initially, but now that he was being propositioned by a woman, he wasn't quite so sure.

"My fiancée makes grown men cry for a living. I don't think you want to be messing around with her husband-to-be."

With a sharp nod, Jane rose to his feet and stormed out the building. Maybe sitting in his hotel room and seeing what was on television would be a far better way to spend his last night as a bachelor.

Come morning and Lisbon was fretting at work. Of all the days for Rigsby to be running late, he had to choose this one. When considering who to invite, there were only four individuals she had seriously considered. Minelli, who had immediately agreed to give her away just a week ago, was already on his way to the destination. As for witnesses, it was only natural that her team filled those positions. But if Rigsby wasn't here within the next five minutes, she was leaving without him. It may be traditional for a woman to be late to her own wedding, but Lisbon was determined to be punctual. Just as she rounded up Van Pelt and Cho, he came careening around the corner and she let out a sigh of relief. At least they could get going now.

"Come on, we have a case. Jane's already headed out there, so we only need to take one car."

"Jane's already there?" Rigsby asked, incredulously. "Alone?"

"Minelli's with him," she replied as she strolled towards the elevator determinedly. "Well, are you coming?"

They glanced at one another before nodding and hurrying to catch up with their boss. Van Pelt quickly mouthed her concern at the fact that Lisbon's superior was getting directly involved with the case, to which the men could only shrug in response. Both simply assumed that it probably involved some very important politician or something and the director's touch was required in order to ensure that everything ran smoothly. Lisbon, however, was relieved that they were eventually on their way to their destination. She didn't have the confidence to tell the rest of them what their destination was until they actually arrived. Instead, she focused on the task at hand and tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. It wasn't as if she was doing something that justified such a level of nervousness; she was only getting married and it was only going to be a quiet affair. Just like she wanted.

"Where is she?"

Minelli allowed his hand to migrate onto Jane's left shoulder and he gave it an affectionate squeeze. He was so used to seeing the man, who he assumed was a psychic, cool and composed. Watching him shred a tissue was rather amusing, but he stifled his laughter. After all, he remembered the day he married his ex-wife all too clearly and the trauma at the idea that she might have developed cold feet. Of course now, he reckoned that it would have been a lot cheaper and a lot easier if she had done so. Instead, she'd practically milked him dry during the divorce, but that nugget of wisdom wasn't something that would calm down the blond. Right now, all he wanted to do was get married to one of the CBI's best agents and the director felt compelled to support him in his desires.

"She'll be here," Minelli replied confidently and he smiled briefly at the other man. "One of the team is probably running late."

"What if she changed her mind? What if she can't cope with…"

Jane trailed off when the SUV came into view and breathed out a sigh of relief. Lisbon, also looking quite nervous was first out of the car and quickly laced her fingers with Jane's. The team, looking more confused than ever, especially with Minelli beaming at the couple in a fatherly way, all joined them quickly, hoping that somebody would explain what the hell was going on as soon as feasibly possible. Eventually, it was Cho who asked bluntly and Jane and Lisbon quickly shared a shy glance before looking back at the three baffled agents.

"We're getting married," Jane announced, grinning widely.

"We know," Rigsby stated, much to the confusion of Lisbon and Jane before continuing. "You got engaged in front of us. Are you _ever_ going to set a date?"

"Now," Lisbon rectified.

They quickly fielded the barrage of questions. It took a good five minutes before everyone was happy with the explanations and they could actually enter the federal building for the service. Van Pelt still looked slightly shell-shocked as she took her seat in the small room they were directed to, but couldn't help but beam at Rigsby and Cho. It was all so sudden, but that pretty much summarized the couple. They never seemed to do anything normally, so dragging them off to goodness knew where to suddenly get married seemed almost perfect for them.

The service was short and sweet. Lisbon could hardly believe that Jane had actually made an honest woman out of her, especially given her initial reaction to the man. Jane was simply proud; the ring on his finger symbolized so much and he was brimming with joy at the fact that Teresa Lisbon was actually his wife. As they shared their first kiss as man and wife, he took the time to whisper just how proud he was of her. It didn't matter to him that she was simply wearing her everyday work clothes, nor that the only friends that were present were also their colleagues. As far as he was concerned, the ceremony had been simply perfect.

"What are you doing about a honeymoon?"

It was Van Pelt who asked the question over the quiet meal, paid for by Minelli as a wedding gift to the pair. Nothing too flashy, but still enjoyable nonetheless. Jane, however, was beginning to get slightly agitated. Naturally, he wanted to spend time alone with Lisbon, but he knew that he would have to remain patient with them. Besides, they had all the time in the world to enjoy married life. This was very much just the start of their lives together and the future simply excited him. What with just how successful both their careers were becoming, it was only natural for him to be very content with how his life was turning out.

"We're going to Paris in a month, for a fortnight."

Lisbon gaped at Jane. This was the first she'd heard about a honeymoon of sorts as they'd never really brought up the subject. She had simply assumed that they would just marry and then get on with their lives as if nothing had particularly changed. Still, she knew she shouldn't be surprised, but well, it was so unexpected. He hadn't even left a single clue that he'd had the idea and besides, it was very expensive to travel to Europe. Where had he come up with the money for such an extravagant trip?

"If that's okay with you," he added.

She nodded and gently placed a kiss on his lips. Lisbon quickly decided that she liked kissing her husband, even if it was going to take some time to get used to wearing another ring on her finger. It had taken her an age to get used to wearing the engagement ring alone and she'd spent months twisting and turning it absent-mindedly. Still, she much preferred the idea of both pieces of jewelry being there than not at all. They were now as important as her mother's cross, which she always wore around her neck.

When they eventually bid farewell to the rest of the team, they were both relieved to finally get some time to themselves. After all, it was time for the first night of the rest of their lives.

**TBC…**


	17. Stop Changing The Subject

**A/N: **I think I've passed the halfway point with this fic now. Hooray! I should really write it more often instead of getting distracted by other shiny fics. I'm sorry.

Anyway, thank you to: Koezh, yaba, NellietheMarvelous, Divinia Serit, TeresaAmaliaJane, boutondor, lisbon69, LSR-7 and Simonisthecuttestmentalist for reviewing part sixteen. Especially so to LSR-7 for reviewing every chapter to date. And another huge thanks to Snap for betaing and putting up with me. *hugs*

Now to bitterly ignore a migraine and finish part eighteen...

x tromana

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**Part Seventeen - Stop Changing The Subject**

Lisbon stared bitterly back at her pallid reflection before grabbing at her makeup case. At least the nausea seemed to have abated and she could only hope that she was finally getting over whatever bug she had. She didn't have the time to be off sick. Well, she never did, as she was constantly inundated with cases and paperwork. Jane didn't seem to understand her persistence, however and instead, rolled his eyes whenever she talked about going into work. As she applied a little mascara, she felt his arms wrap around her, hands resting on top of her abdomen and head nestling in her hair. She was relieved that they hadn't started arguing yet, but she figured they were lucky. The famous 'honeymoon' period didn't always last that long, after all.

"You look worse," he whispered into her ear, his breath tickling her neck. "I'm sure they could do without you for just one day."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"You're probably making whatever it is worse."

Placing the mascara neatly back in the case, she turned around in his arms and swiftly, he moved his right arm, placing the back of his hand against her forehead. Jane hissed slightly, noting that she had a slight temperature and his eyes widened in response. He'd been looking forward to today for some time and knew she was old enough to look after herself, but couldn't help but worry and wish that he could stall the things he had planned.

"Stop worrying, I'm _fine_."

"I've long since stopped believing you when you say that, Teresa."

She smiled slightly as he placed a kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Besides, when did _you_ get so good at reading me?"

"Oh, hush," she replied, rather good-naturedly. "I have to get to work."

She pushed him away gently and tried to make her way out of the bathroom, but Jane caught hold of her wrist lightly. Lisbon sighed but Jane stared her in the eye with a rather serious expression.

"Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Patrick…"

Her voice took on a whining tone but his eyes narrowed in response, thoroughly unimpressed.

"You have a stressful job, you need to look after yourself."

"But I can't keep anything down!"

"In that case, you shouldn't be going to work at all."

"Fine. I'll have an apple when I get there, okay?"

"It'll have to, I suppose."

"Now I really have to go or else I'll be late."

"You mean Van Pelt will beat you into the office."

"That too."

After stealing another kiss, he eventually let go of her hand and she breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes, it still felt odd having somebody so obviously concerned about her well-being. Then again, there were times it felt like she and Jane had been together forever and at others, like it had been no time at all. As she said goodbye to the dog and grabbed her jacket and some paperwork she had brought home with her, Jane followed her around their apartment.

"Oh, Tea?"

"Ye-es?"

"You will…"

"If we get time, we will watch your interview," she confirmed and he smiled briefly in response. "And yes, I'll still come to your thing tonight."

"I don't want you over-exerting yourself."

"Stop worrying about me and go get yourself ready, otherwise _you'll_ be late."

"Yes, Boss."

As the day progressed with relatively little happening, Lisbon was relieved that she was feeling significantly better even though she still didn't feel much like eating. Though she had actively avoided eating anything at work, much to the concern of her team, she had managed to find a spare five minutes to watch his interview. She sighed as she sank into the bubble bath. At least work had been quiet as she had a busy night to prepare for. It didn't help that she had to have words with her husband, either. He'd promised her he would avoid mentioning it but of course he just had to go and do it, didn't he? It wasn't that she was ashamed of him working for the team, it was more of a case of she preferred to keep his two jobs separate and compartmentalized. Talking about it on television glamorized it and really, there were enough crime procedurals doing just that without him adding his opinions to the mix.

"Honey, I'm home!"

She jumped as Poppy barked in response to Jane's homecoming and she soon realized she was now sitting in a stone-cold bath. She quickly stepped out of it, wrapping a warm, fluffy bathrobe around herself. Jane sounded particularly cheerful, but that was hardly surprising as it was obvious he'd had a good day. He'd told her several times just how boring being interviewed could be, but really she knew just how much he enjoyed performing to a large audience. Jane greeted her in their bedroom and as he went to kiss her gently on the lips, she turned her head slightly so that he brushed her cheek instead.

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"I told you not to mention your police work on TV."

"But people…"

"Why did you agree to work for us?" she interrupted angrily. "Because you want to solve crimes, because Minelli asked or because it would look good to your audience?"

Lisbon shook slightly before her legs began to buckle. Swiftly, Jane caught her and carefully helped to maneuver her to the bed. She glared at him as she scrambled to a sitting position and he knelt in front of her, his hands placed on either side of her thighs.

"I want an answer."

"You nearly fainted."

"Patrick..."

"Have you had _anything_ to eat today?" Jane questioned and nodded slightly when she hesitated. "You haven't, have you?"

"So maybe I forgot but…" she trailed off as he pulled her to her feet and led her straight towards the kitchen. "Stop changing the subject."

As she sat at the kitchen table, she kept her arms folded and glared as Jane fussed around her. They didn't have time for this as they were meant to be leaving for the black tie event he'd been invited to in an hour. Lisbon cursed herself yet again for not only falling asleep but feeling unwell, despite the fact both things had been completely out of her control.

"Eat."

Jane placed two slices of dry toast in front of her along with a glass of orange juice and she stared at the meal as if it was poisoned.

"Teresa, please…"

"Just looking at it makes me feel sick."

"I know, but if you want to get through tonight…"

She sighed and grudgingly picked up a piece. As she bit into it, grimacing slightly, Jane breathed a sigh of relief. He had had half a feeling that it was going to end up inside Poppy and the golden retriever had been especially spoiled rotten as of late. Still, at least she hadn't been as stubborn as she could have been; that would have made things virtually impossible. Whatever she had was probably weakening her resolve a little and he couldn't wait until she was back to her normal, fiery self.

"I started working for the CBI because Virgil Minelli asked me to," he eventually said in a low voice as his hands worked at her tense shoulders. "I stayed because somebody I love works there too."

Later, Lisbon was feeling rather like an idiot at the charity event. She'd watched him perform, feeling rather alone in the audience and had had to prevent herself from laughing as he acted as if he was in a trance while doing a reading for someone. It was the first time she'd actually watched him do this in the same room and knowing it was all a lie unsettled her just a little. Jane was now working the crowd, meeting various people interested in his skills and charming pretty much everyone he met. She stood beside him, filling the role of faithful wife with little else to say or do. Irritably, she pulled down at her dress yet again. It was a little tighter than she had remembered it being, but she dismissed the thought quickly especially as it was one of the ones her husband had picked out for her and she knew he liked clothing that 'accentuated' his favorite parts of her figure.

"And this is Teresa, my wife."

"Do I know you?"

Lisbon clicked out of her trance-like state as man Jane had just introduced her to propositioned her so bluntly. Quickly, she glanced him up and down, trying to place his face. She vaguely recognized him, figuring it was probably something to do with work but couldn't work out his name.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"What is it that you do?"

"I'm an officer of the law," she replied stiffly, annoyed that the man kept interrupting her.

"She's being modest. She's the lead agent of a team in the CBI," Jane interjected brightly, obviously proud of her.

"Patrick…"

Her cell phone rang out and Lisbon was relieved to have a reason to excuse herself from the conversation. As Jane and the bespectacled man worked out the connection, discussing how the 'wonderful' Teresa Lisbon had played a pivotal role in catching the man's aunt's murderer, she disappeared into a corner to answer the call. She was partially hoping that something drastic had happened so she could leave the farce of a black tie dinner and get into more comfortable clothing.

"Oh you're kidding me," she muttered down her cell phone and paused as the person on the other end spoke. "Yes, sir. We'll be there as soon as we can. Yes, I'll bring Jane along too."

Jane placed a hand on her waist as she bid the caller farewell and she avoided allowing herself to relax into his touch. The man they'd been talking to, said his goodbyes and Lisbon was relieved to get rid of him, so that they could finally make a move.

"Who was that?"

"Minelli. We have to leave," she stated and Jane's face fell. "Now."

"Why?"

"Red John."

**TBC…**


	18. Do We Have To?

**A/N: **Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this to date and pushed it over 200 reviews. It means so much to me - and I'm thrilled that you're enjoying my not-so-little AU.

Thanks also to: Koezh, yaba, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, Angelic dEvil xo, Divinia Serit, forthecoast, LSR-7, TeresaAmaliaJane, MJ2387, NellietheMarvelous and The Mentalist Rules for reviewing part 17. And Snap, of course for betaing and generally being awesome.

I don't really have much to say, but dang. I need to write an update of this whilst it's still a bank holiday here. Damn shiny new oneshots for distracting me.

x tromana

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**Part Eighteen - Do We Have To?**

"What have we got?"

Lisbon hadn't had time to change out of her posh frock and felt a little out of place standing beside Cho and Van Pelt, who were dressed in their normal work suits. Still, at least the leather jacket she had slung carelessly over her shoulders protected her dignity a little and her team respected her regardless of what clothing she was wearing. Jane, still dressed in his tuxedo, wandered around the hotel room, making interested noises at occasional objects of interest. Lisbon briefly wondered about whether or not she should teach her husband how to speak rather than emitting strange noises that meant little to anyone but him.

"Ashley Matthews, twenty two, from Palm Springs. She was in Sacramento to visit her twin sister," Cho stated, staring directly at Lisbon rather than the girl's body which was positioned between them. "As far as I can tell, it's all the same, just like the Fieldston girl case."

"He's preying on twins again?"

"Not quite. Well, he is, but there is something different this time."

"Oh?"

She stood and turned around just as Jane disappeared into the bathroom after his statement. With a sigh, she crossed her arms and started tapping her foot, waiting for the infuriating blond to make his reappearance with something unexpected. Lisbon's eyes rounded and she gaped a little when Jane reappeared in the room, holding a sleeping toddler. The little boy snuggled his head closer into Jane's neck and clung tightly onto his stuffed giraffe toy. Lisbon's eyes softened and automatically, she took the toddler out of his arms and allowed her hands to rub soothingly up his back as the little lad fell back into a deep sleep. Quietly, she instructed Rigsby to make some calls to deal with him. However cute he was, a bunch of CBI agents and their impulsive consultant were not the best people to be looking after a young child.

"What's his name?" Van Pelt asked, approaching Lisbon and the boy.

"Jamie."

"And how did you work that one out?"

"You know I can't tell you that, Van Pelt."

"Oh don't listen to him," Lisbon piped up, "it's on his blanket. And stop pouting, Jane. She'd have seen it sooner or later."

"You look good with him," the red head said, gazing softly at the sleeping child. "D'you think you and Jane will have kids?"

"It's, uh, not something we've really discussed yet," Lisbon mumbled, her eyes darting immediately to the ground. "Besides, both our jobs are obviously stressful and busy. We'd never…"

"Meh, excuses. I'd love to have children."

"Really?"

"Uh, Boss?" Rigsby walked back into the room, clicking his cell phone shut. "Social services are on the way to pick the kid up."

Lisbon nodded as Jamie started whimpering slightly in her arms. Instinctively, she pressed the back of her hand against his small forehead and winced. The poor thing had a temperature. As she collapsed on the couch, Jane reappeared by his side with the cough medicine that his mother had obviously been administering him. Lisbon eyed it warily as Jane measured out a spoonful.

"We don't know when he had his last dose," she remarked, a steely gaze in her eyes. "We don't want to risk his health."

"How long has Ashley been dead?"

"At least four hours, according to the coroner."

"I'd say he'd be due for some more then. Besides, it's not _as_ dangerous as the pharmaceutical companies want you to believe. The recommended dosage always errs on the side of caution."

Just as they finished medicating the boy, a harassed looking young woman carrying a clipboard and a hold all walked into the room. After introducing herself as the social worker, Lisbon handed him over, but not without some doubts. She knew the baby was going to be reunited with his aunt in the morning, but she still didn't feel comfortable. As they left, she shook her head. Since when had she become so damn maternal? The team quickly surrounded her and she sighed deeply. It was a Red John case and that always meant trouble.

"Okay guys. I want to see you back at headquarters first thing in the morning. Don't be late - this is Red John we're talking about. Try to have a good night's rest."

As the others nodded their farewells, Jane rounded on her.

"You look awful."

"That's just charming."

"Come on. Let's get you home," he whispered, nudging her gently with his shoulder. "I think somebody could do with a cup of tea and her bed."

Come morning, Lisbon still felt awful, having yet again suffered from a morning of sickness. She didn't really feel like talking to Ashley's mother with Jane, but felt she had little choice. The others were busy chasing other leads and really, if this wasn't a Red John case, she knew that she'd be tightly curled up in bed in between the bouts of nausea she was still suffering from. She'd assumed it was a twenty four, or maybe a forty eight hour bug. Cho had been off for a couple of days with something similar, so naturally, she'd assumed she had caught it from him. But she'd been suffering from it for a week now and she had finally decided that she really ought to see a doctor. Besides, she knew her husband would suggest it sooner or later, so she chose to beat him to it instead. She glanced at her watch. Two hours until she would have to make her excuses.

"So you and Ashley were having no problems with one another then?"

"No, of course not!" Mrs. Williams stated indignantly, "I mean, she thought I still didn't approve of her having Jamie so young. But really, I loved them both to death, her sister too. Though of course, being twins means they now both hold it against me."

"No, you did."

"Pardon?"

"Your daughters disapproved of something," Jane stated lightly and the woman opened her mouth slightly before clamping it shut again. "You're pregnant."

"How dare you."

"Oh come on, it's obvious. A self respecting businesswoman like you wearing a tracksuit top in public? The fact that both your daughters are ignoring you. You've stopped caring so much about what you eat."

She dropped the candy bar she had been in the process of eating and eyed Jane seriously.

"And since when is being pregnant a crime?"

"I didn't say that…"

"Thank you for your time," Lisbon interjected. She had just about asked everything she needed and she didn't want the problem escalating any further. "Would it be possible to call if we have any more queries?"

"Of course. But please, don't bring him along again."

"Of course, ma'am. Thank you."

Lisbon stormed out of the room with Jane in her wake. As she drove back to CBI headquarters, she refused to acknowledge Jane's presence. It was immature, but really he should have had some tact. The woman was pregnant and her daughter had just died. There were times when sensitivity was required and her husband had the sensitivity of a sledgehammer. Worst was she knew that he could deal with things more appropriately and he simply chose not to.

"Teresa…"

"Do you always have to annoy everyone we speak to?"

"She was lying to you. Come on, it was annoying you too."

"There is that," she muttered and paled slightly at the smell of coffee coming from the nearby cart.

"Sick again? You should really see a doctor, Tea. It's unlike you to hate the smell of coffee."

"I know. That's why I'm going now."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I'll be fine. I want you to go and see if you can help the others with anything."

"If you're sure…"

"I am," she answered quickly. "I'll be back soon."

In the two hours she was missing, Jane tossed and turned on his couch. He'd contemplated sleeping on the somewhat more uncomfortable one in Lisbon's office, but considering how irritable she was already, decided against it. He was still annoyed that she had refused his company though; all he'd wanted to do was show some support for his wife. Besides, nothing interesting was happening. The others were all busy collating reports, chasing up leads and the like and he was simply getting in the way. At least he had a few clients to see tomorrow, that way he wouldn't be bothering them while they went about their work the 'proper' way. Still, Lisbon's reaction to the concept of children disconcerted him somewhat. When she got back, he decided he'd have to talk to her about that.

He smiled when he heard the familiar sound of her footsteps approaching the bullpen and frowned when he opened his eyes to see her leaning over Van Pelt's shoulder instead of over the couch. Quickly, he rose to his feet and closed the gap between them, placing an affectionate hand on the small of her back just as she congratulated the rookie for a job well done.

"Jane, get your hands off of me."

"How did your appointment go?"

"Fine. Now let go. It's inappropriate in the workplace."

Van Pelt studiously ignored the conversation going on behind her, though a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. She still hadn't really adjusted to the concept that they were married at all. When Lisbon walked towards her office, Jane gave chase and she breathed a sigh of relief. Rigsby glanced at her, smiling weakly. Part of him still wished that he could find a loophole that would allow them to date like Jane and Lisbon had managed to. She smiled in response, thinking exactly the same thing.

Once the door to Lisbon's office was tightly shut, Jane eyed her warily. She sighed and folded her arms, knowing full well that she wouldn't get any more work done until he had his say.

"Well?"

"How was your appointment?"

"I told you. Fine."

"Teresa…"

"There's nothing to worry about, honestly. Now please, can you just let me get on with my work?"

"Not yet."

"Why not?"

"Children."

"Do we have to…"

"Have this discussion now?" Jane finished her sentence for her and she glared at him irritably. "Yes."

"Fine. What do you think about us having children then?"

"I think that it would be a wonderful idea. Grace is right. You looked good with that baby last night."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Yeah, good. Now let me get on."

She remained frosty with Jane throughout the rest of the day. He knew she was keeping something from him and he was thoroughly annoyed that his own wife was unwilling to open up to him. Of course, he knew that the case was frustrating her. A Red John case always brought little up and he understood just how badly it affected her when she felt she wasn't doing her job properly, but there was no reason for her not to talk about it. Sharing problems had always helped him in the past and he couldn't understand why it wouldn't have the same affect on her. Even after they arrived home, Lisbon remained withdrawn and only spoke to him with broken sentences. It didn't help when she insisted upon an early night and she shied away from his touch when he joined her in bed later.

Lisbon rose early and within seconds, Jane realized just where she was. Carefully, he positioned himself beside her, gently scooping her hair out of her way as she was violently sick. It worried him the way her body convulsed as she was unable to keep anything down, still. In a brief reprieve, he handed her a damp flannel which she used to clean herself up and she smiled slightly in response before proceeding to throw up yet again. She sighed with relief when the nausea finally abated and collapsed against the tiled bathroom wall.

"I thought you said everything went fine yesterday," Jane queried."Why didn't they give you anything?"

She shook her head.

"They didn't need to. I'm pregnant."

Jane opened his mouth, gaping slightly before shutting it again. They'd always been careful, when really they should have discussed the possibility of children instead. He slid down the wall, sitting beside Lisbon and stared at her with scrutinizing eyes. The symptoms fitted and he cursed himself for not picking up on it sooner. Squeaking slightly, he waited until he'd processed the news before actually trying to speak.

"What? How?"

"Oh don't say I need to give the mighty Patrick Jane a simple biology lesson," she quipped, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The sarcasm was simply deflection. He'd noticed that Ashley's mother was pregnant again within seconds, yet hadn't identified that his own wife was too. Though she knew that he cared about her, the irrational side of her couldn't help but feel quite hurt by that lack of attention.

"I'm going to lie down for a while. I don't care that this is a Red John anymore. Call Cho and tell him I'm taking the morning off, will you?"

**TBC…**


	19. Let Go Of Me

**A/N: **Sorry for not updating anything in forever. Or rather, almost a week. That's really lax (of me). But there's an update of Army to come as well. It's with Crackle and should be betad soon (looks hopefully in her direction). And I've just started a new oneshot, which I'm hoping to finish today. *grins* Thanks, as always, to Snap for betaing this. I feel the need to apologise for begging you to beta such a long fic as the end still isn't in sight, but then you'd just tell me off for saying sorry. So I won't. So there.

Thank you to: LSR-7, GibbsIsMyGod, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, Koezh, Divinia Serit, yaba, forthecoast, lisbon69, boutondor, TeresaAmaliaJane and dogeatdog for reviewing part eighteen. Especially dogeatdog who signed in anonymously.

Oh! And so the pregnancy has been revealed. Any suggestions for baby names because I'm honestly not all that fussed as to what it actually gets called... Hah.

x tromana

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**Part Nineteen - Let Go Of Me**

"I told Cho we were taking the whole day off."

Lisbon didn't acknowledge his statement, but Jane could tell that she wasn't asleep. She had curled herself up in a fetal position, knees pulled tightly up to her chest and somehow, she had managed to bunch up the sheets in her hands. Jane approached her slowly, as if approaching a tiger that was threatening to pounce at any second. Carefully, he positioned himself beside her on the bed and after a couple of minutes of stony silence had passed, he allowed his hands to migrate to her shoulders in attempt to work at her tensed muscles. He hated seeing her work herself up into such a state, especially considering the circumstances. As she was pregnant and they were going to be parents, she really needed to relax. For some reason, he had a feeling that she wouldn't take to pregnancy as well as some women did. She was so career- driven and just over twenty four hours ago, she had been making up excuses as to why extending their family wasn't a particularly good idea.

"Let go of me."

He froze for half a second but didn't remove his hands. Instead, Lisbon shifted her body away from him, still refusing to even look at her husband. The whole situation felt wrong and she felt a little idiotic. She had realized that they really should have discussed the whole children issue before pregnancy was foisted upon them, so that they could have been better prepared to handle it. It also didn't help that she was feeling a little guilty; there were women across the world who would literally kill to be in her position and here she was, wishing the whole situation would just go away so she didn't have to face it anymore. But she had never been the kind of woman to crave motherhood. Bringing up her brothers as an adolescent had quashed any idealistic views of parenthood she'd ever had quite easily. Jane of course, despite being completely unconventional in every other aspect of his life, appeared to be keen to go down the normal 'wife-kid-white picket fence' route.

"Teresa…"

She mumbled incoherently and Jane frowned.

"We need to talk about this."

"Why?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because in under nine months time we're going to be parents?"

"Maybe I don't want children, maybe I'm not ready," she whispered through gritted teeth. "Maybe I don't want to be a Mom."

"You don't want…"

"I don't know what I want!"

"It's a life, Teresa."

"It's barely bigger than a blood clot. It's a ball of cells."

"It could be _our_ child."

"And that's what's so terrifying."

"I know," he replied, carefully laying down beside her and wrapping an arm tightly around her waist. "But if you ran away from everything that scared you, you'd never go into work."

"That's different."

"How so?"

"It's…"

Her words died on her lips and instead she finally allowed herself to relax slightly beside him. She knew she was right, it was very different, but formulating the words without giving Jane something to toss straight back at her was difficult. Instead, she allowed them to be enveloped in a restive silence and slowly began fighting to keep her eyes closed. It had been a restless morning and because of that, she still felt exhausted. Besides, she had the whole day off and catching up on a little sleep, seemed as good a plan as any.

Two hours later and Lisbon woke, feeling slightly lonely. When she had fallen asleep, Jane had been holding her tightly and in that seemingly brief amount of time, he had already disappeared somewhere. Instead of moving, she tightly scrunched up her eyes and pretended that she was still asleep, if only to feel like she was actually more rested than scared out of her wits. It hadn't taken her long to realize that maybe she had overreacted slightly and was simply lashing out at somebody she loved, but she couldn't help it. A baby would completely alter both of their lifestyles and it would probably be impossible for her to continue being an agent - and her job had been something she had clung onto since she had been hired by the CBI. When the door creaked open, she opened her right eye to see Jane walking in, precariously balancing a plate of food and a mug of herbal tea on a tray. As he approached her, Lisbon reluctantly shifted to a sitting position and smiled weakly at him. After placing the meal down on her bedside table, Jane gently cupped her face and allowed his lips to graze the tip of her nose.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"Do you think I can get away with blaming it on hormones already?"

"Oh I don't know about that…" Jane said, trailing off as she stared at him with panicked eyes. "I'd say you can, but only if you eat your toast."

"Toast?"

"Yes, toast. However much you'd like to right now, you can't exist on nothing."

Grudgingly, she ate the essentially harmless food product and Jane almost looked proud as she swallowed the last mouthful. Grinning, he took the plate away from her. She looked a little better, the color had returned to her cheeks already, though he knew that morning sickness meant they would probably be repeating the process again for quite some time, provided they kept the baby. Just as he went to ask her whether or not the nap had led her to having any more thoughts about offspring, her cell phone buzzed cheerily and Lisbon hurriedly picked up the offending object, expecting the call to be from a member of her team, informing her that something had happened on the case. Instead, she furrowed her brow when she saw who was actually calling but answered it anyway.

"Hello Matthew."

"Tessa, hi. How are you?"

"I'm fine and so's Patrick."

"Whatever," he interrupted before she even had a chance to return the compliment and making it obvious that he still disliked his sister's choice in life partner. "There's a family reunion coming up…"

She had known about that. Matthew always held it, if only to show off his latest fiancée in the long list of women he had popped the infamous question to. Lisbon found it rather amusing that the eldest of her younger brothers was always the one pressurizing her when it came to her relationship with Jane when he barely presented the ideal representation of the American family.

"I can't fly, I'm sorry Matt. I can't risk it while I'm pregnant."

"What the hell do you mean you're pregnant?" Matthew snapped and Lisbon cringed at his tone. "You're not even married yet."

"I am."

"What?"

"I am married, have been for six months."

"_What_?"

"Didn't Ed tell you?"

"Why should Ed have told me? Why wasn't I invited?"

"It was, uh, kind of a spur of the moment… type… thing."

It was a blatant lie, but she hoped that she was persuasive enough to convince her brother over the telephone.

"It's been six months."

"I've been busy."

"That's your excuse for everything," he answered back and Lisbon began to feel guilty again and justifiably so. "So. You're married and pregnant?"

"Yes."

"I'm coming to visit you. I'll bring Jennifer too so you can meet her."

"Do you have to?"

"Do I have to? Of course I have to! I need to make sure that everything is ready for the baby and that your _husband_ is doing his job properly. I'll call you when the flight's booked."

As her brother ended the call, Lisbon frowned and stared at the cell phone, figuring that it probably could have gone better. She had been meaning to tell Matthew that she had married Jane; she'd told both Edward and Jacob pretty soon after the ceremony. But Matthew had always been a different story, especially as he still refused to trust Jane and his capabilities of supporting Lisbon in the ways that she needed, despite the fact that they had enjoyed a healthy relationship for almost four years. As Jane enveloped her in his arms, she realized that one of Red John's more recent victims, the one before Ashley, had been a Catherine who had been known as Cat, the same name as her brother's fiancé when she had first introduced him to Jane. Shaking her head, she put it down to coincidence, over-thinking about work and the fact that she was desperate to close the case.

"You told Matthew that we're having a baby."

"I did," she acknowledged.

"Does this mean that you've…"

"I'm not sure," she whispered, "I think so."

"I'm glad," Jane muttered, placing a kiss on her cheek. "I've always wanted a daughter."

"It could be a boy."

"Eh, I don't think so."

"There's no way you could know now."

"I have a fifty-fifty chance of being right though."

"Oh shut up."

She smiled brightly, feeling the happiest she had been since receiving the news and quickly decided that as her husband had intervened and decided that she was taking the whole day off, she might as well enjoy it.

Come morning and Lisbon walked tentatively into the office, not quite sure how the others would react. It was unusual her taking a day off at all and she knew that the others wouldn't know how to react to the fact. Also, for some irrational reason, she had a feeling that everybody could just tell that she was pregnant just by looking at her. Despite the fact she had just about decided that she was okay with keeping the baby, she still wasn't ready to tell the others just yet even though she knew she would have to sooner rather than later. Rigsby beamed as he caught sight of her and waved cheerily, to which Cho quickly rolled his eyes. The younger agent was always overly effervescent and eager to please their boss, even though they had worked together for a long while - before she had even taken change of the unit.

"So what happened yesterday?"

Lisbon had had another rough morning, but couldn't justify it to herself to take two days off in a row, especially with Red John on the prowl. Despite feeling like she was going to empty the contents of her stomach every fifteen minutes, she somehow made it into work only half an hour later than she normally would and had immediately went about trying to catch up for lost time. Rigsby and Cho exchanged glares but eventually, the taller agent sighed and gave up. Cho always seemed to have a way about him which meant that if he really wanted to, he could get away with passing off undesirable tasks to other colleagues with them barely batting an eyelid.

"Van Pelt's been hurt and Red John has disappeared again."

"What? Why didn't you call me?"

"Jane said you were sick," Cho supplied.

"_Really_ sick," Rigsby stressed, though they both knew that the mere fact Lisbon had taken the day off at all, spoke volumes about whatever had been wrong with her.

"Right," Lisbon replied with a nod. "I'm going to see Van Pelt. Next time, even if I am _unconscious_, I expect you to call if something like this happens."

"But if you're…" Rigsby started as she stalked off, "unconscious, you won't know anyway."

**TBC…**


	20. Because That Would Be Boring

**A/N: **So now's the time when updates get slower again. Why? a. writer's block (just with this damn fic though. *kicks it*) and b. Summer Secret Santa assignments are due out today. I'll try and update during that period but going by what happened last time... well. Just consider this an apology in advance. I am going to finish this fic one day, I promise. It's just taking me forever to do so.

Thank you to: yaba, GibbsIsMyGod, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, Angelic dEvil xo, MJ2387, Koezh, dogeatdog, lil smiles, Divinia Serit, boutondor and The Mentalist Rules for reviewing part nineteen. Especially so to dogeatdog who logged in anonymously and Snap for betaing.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Twenty - Because That Would Be Boring**

_Three Months Later_

Cho and Rigsby had been terribly surprised when Lisbon blurted out that she was indeed pregnant. For some reason, they hadn't made the connection that their firecracker of a boss could actually bear a child. Minelli, however, had not been and immediately restricted her work to less dangerous endeavors. The director, unashamed of his fondness for the senior agent, hadn't wanted anything to happen to her or her offspring. So, much to her irritation, he frequently stepped in whenever there was the slightest hint of trouble. Lisbon was unimpressed at this undermining of her authority but appreciated his sentiment, especially as they were still trying to work out a suitable solution for when the baby actually arrived. She had a feeling it would probably be something similar to what she was currently doing and found herself not minding all that much. It would be good to be able to spend more time at home with her husband, the dog and most importantly, the baby and for the first time in years, she was actually on top of her paperwork.

"Hello, dear."

"Not in the office," she hissed as he placed a bouquet of roses in front of her. She eyed the blooms suspiciously as Jane rarely brought her flowers these days. He was planning something and she wanted to know what. "Why the fl-"

"Can't I treat my beautiful wife to some beautiful flowers?"

The faintest flush colored her cheeks and she cursed him for using such blatant compliments in the workplace.

"I'd rather you didn't do it at work. What are you up to?"

"Me? Nothing."

"What happened?"

Jane frowned and sat opposite her, immediately picking up a ballpoint pen to fiddle with. Sometimes, he forgot that she was actually quite apt at reading people herself. It was a skill that she needed when she was interrogating suspects and the like. Still, it didn't mean that he couldn't find it unnerving. After all, in their relationship, she was meant to be the open book while he was the one shrouded in mystery. It also didn't help that somehow, he had a feeling that she would make something that he viewed as being rather good news appear to be a bad thing. He didn't even need to look at her to know that she had moved the roses under her desk, away from prying eyes and had taken to narrowing her eyes on him, waiting for him to talk. He'd hoped that she would let it be for a while, would wait to talk to him until later, but a pregnant Teresa was even more impatient than when she wasn't. She had more violent mood swings too, something which made him concerned about discussing this particular topic right at that very moment.

"The marmite hasn't been held up in the mail again has it?"

Marmite was her latest craving. A college friend, who was apparently from England, had introduced it to Lisbon in her early twenties and she hadn't thought much of it at the time. However, despite the fact she had long since lost contact with that woman, her jumbled up mind hadn't forgotten the taste of the yeast spread and had recently latched onto the flavor. Currently, she seemed to need to eat it at least twice a day to be content and Jane was spending a fortune on importing it. Not that he complained much, it was better to do that and appease her stomach than have her continually grouchy with him and everybody else.

"No, the marmite's fine," he replied hurriedly and she breathed an audible sigh of relief. "It's on the counter, waiting for you when we get home."

"Good. I can't believe I had to go two days without it."

"Why couldn't you crave something normal?"

"Because that would be boring."

"True."

"You never answered…" she muttered, trailing off. "What happened?"

He'd genuinely hoped the issue had slipped her mind as she had grown somewhat distracted. Uncharacteristic for his wife normally, but it had happened quite regularly as of late. Her eyes had widened with genuine worry. Obviously, she was reading the situation as something _bad_ having happened when, really, it was quite the opposite. With a sigh, he leaned over and gently clasped her hands in his own. Normally, at work, Lisbon would pull away and tell him it was inappropriate, like the gesture of flowers but obviously her concern for him overrode her desire to remain professional at work. Then again, that was a little bit of a pointless task considering she had already married him and was carrying his child. But when it came to work, Lisbon had a fair few idiosyncrasies that he was yet to break, not that Jane hadn't been trying and he was determined to succeed sooner or later. Really, she was too professional for her own good and loosening up when she was on the job would probably help her actually do it better.

"I have some tour dates…"

"And…"

"And some prospective new clients…"

"That's…"

"They're all in Northern California."

"Oh. When?"

"Starting next week if all goes to plan."

"You're willing to leave me, like this?"

"Your brother is coming down, he'll look after you," Jane replied flippantly, "and besides, you know we don't get along."

"That's the point! You're the father of his niece or nephew and I really want you to try and work things out."

"And you don't approve of me pretending to… you know…" he stated sarcastically, knowing full well exactly what her retort was going to be.

"No, I don't."

She crossed her arms and glared at him. It had been a while since he had last felt the need to go away, to indulge in his world of glitz and glamour. Truth be told, she had gotten used to having her husband around her all the time and didn't want to sacrifice that for anything, especially not when the baby was due in a little under four months time. Anything could happen between now and then and that terrified her, especially as she had only just accepted the concept of being a Mom properly. Besides, they were doing just fine and didn't really need the extra income that his second career earned them. It was just he couldn't see that. Somebody had offered him the carrot and he had to go and take it just because he _could_.

"Please, Patrick," Lisbon whined, "we have no need for you to go on the psychic trail anymore. I've done the math, we can afford everything we need and more if you work for the CBI full time. My wage as senior…"

"Teresa…"

"No, hear me out," she demanded. "If you're worried about us living in each other's pockets, I'll request that Minelli transfers you. I'm sure you could have fun winding the hell out of Bosco."

"But I _like_ it, Teresa, it's part of who I am."

"And that's so goddamn selfish of you, Patrick. I just want to know that my husband is going to be around when I give birth instead of flirting with some plastic bimbo hundreds of miles away."

"You think I'm cheating on you, is that what it is?" he snarled, standing up and making her jump slightly as his fists collided with her desk. "Can't trust me unless I'm under the watchful eyes of you or your little team?"

"Don't you _dare_ turn this one around on me!"

"That's exactly what it is, isn't it? You think I have you stuck here, feeling all fat and sorry for yourself while I'm off living the high life." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Is it wrong of me wanting better than just adequate and getting by for my family? Is it wrong of me for wanting the best for you so _you _don't have to work such long hours?"

"How dare you…"

"How dare I?" he whispered in a low voice before getting louder. "How _dare _I? Quite easily. My _wife _just said she doesn't trust me."

"You know what? Fine. Go. Have a nice trip, Patrick," she answered back, her voice several pitches higher than usual.

"But-"

"I'll see you whenever you get back. Don't rush. I'll be here with the baby whenever you get bored."

"Teresa, I-" he mumbled and reached out to touch her shoulder. She pulled away angrily and that immediately turned his mood. "Right. Fine. Whatever. See you."

He slammed the door and stormed past a rather confused Rigsby and Van Pelt. They exchanged glances, clearly worried about both Lisbon and Jane. Both hoped desperately that if they ever had the confidence to break the rules and date that they would never need to have such violent arguments in the workplace. Eventually, Rigsby managed to somehow persuade the rookie that it was her job to go and check whether or not their boss was okay. She tentatively knocked on the office door and when Lisbon didn't reply, she pushed it open anyway, taking a few careful steps inside.

"Boss?"

"Yes, Van Pelt?" Lisbon asked, her voice clearly strained. "Do you have something on the Lebowski case?"

"No… I mean, not yet… I mean, um, are you okay?"

"Fine, thank you," Lisbon answered shortly and Van Pelt shrank back. "Would you like some roses? If not, just dispose of them. I don't want them."

"Um, okay.""And then back to work, okay? I expect you to have found something before three p.m."

"Yes, boss. Right away, boss."

Lisbon explicitly made sure that she stayed far later than she had been doing so since she had discovered she was pregnant. She couldn't face going home just yet as she didn't know whether or not she would face Jane or an empty house and quite frankly, didn't like the appeal of either option. Of course, Poppy would make perfectly adequate company, but there was only so much love and affection a dog could give her. Eventually, it was Cho who realized it was really getting far too late for her to be there and intervened. He tried to remain impassive as he wrestled a sulking, pregnant woman into his car and drove her home. When they arrived at her apartment complex, she quietly thanked him, especially when she spotted Matthew on her front doorstep, tapping his foot in irritation.

"Tessa," he announced and she cringed at the childhood nickname which she still couldn't shake. "Where have you been? Where's that _husband_ of yours?"

"I've been at work," she replied dryly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And as for Patrick? I don't know."

"He hasn't left you has he? That good for nothing…"

"I don't know."

"Oh, Tess," Matthew replied when he spotted she was on the verge of tears. "What happened?"

"Just an argument. About work," she brushed off. "Never mind me. How's, uh, Jennifer?"

"It's Cat again. She took me back," Matthew replied brightly and his sister didn't even bat an eyelid. "She's great. Says sorry she can't be here but she can't wait to meet her little niece or nephew."

"Right…" Lisbon answered dubiously, skeptical about just how long Cat would last again. "Do you want some marmite on toast?"

"What on toast?"

"Marmite."

"Uh, no thanks."

Lisbon's brother made himself at home for a good week, a couple of days longer than he initially intended because of Jane's sudden disappearance. Had the man proven that he was at least going some way to look after his sister, Matthew would have been appeased. Instead, he was simply more convinced that Jane was totally wrong for her and pretty much scum. Lisbon had to hide her smirk as Matthew ranted down the telephone to her other brothers about Jane, sounding more like a girl than she did. But then again, Matt had always been the one to find fault in things while she had been the one who had to fix them all. Eventually, he agreed to leave her alone with the dog when he managed to speak to Jane and give him an earful about leaving Lisbon alone. She practically had to prize the handset away from his ear in order to hear him apologize for their relatively petty argument and say sorry herself.

The night after her brother left, she indulged in chocolate ice cream and Julie Andrews movies while spending a long while cuddling Poppy. Jane had promised to cut the tour short; it turned out that he was finding it less stimulating than he had first anticipated and more importantly, he genuinely missed his wife. Lisbon was simply relieved to know that she was going to have her husband back within a week and that they had gone some way to soothe both of their bruised egos, post argument. She had a feeling that it would come up again and certainly didn't look forward to that moment. But still, at least neither of them wanted the other out of their lives for good. She didn't know if she could handle that, especially not at that specific moment in time.

**TBC…**


	21. What Are You Doing?

**A/N:** Hands up who thought I'd never update this again? *puts up hand* I hate revisiting stories after leaving them for so long. I suppose that's telling me something though - next time, don't leave it so long. *grumbles incoherently* Thanks especially go to Yana, Snap and Crackle who 'politely' reminded me that I should get my act into gear and actually do something about it.

Thank you to: Divinia Serit, lisbon69, Koezh, yaba, LSR-7, forthecoast, boutondor, autumnftw, Jisbon4ever and NellietheMarvelous for reviewing part twenty - especially to Jisbon4ever, who logged in anonymously. Also to Rach for such a speedy beta job. So nobody blame her for the lateness of this update - it's all my fault.

x tromana

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**Part Twenty One - What Are You Doing?**

_Three months later_

"What are you doing?"

Lisbon jumped slightly when Jane walked into their lounge and promptly stole the folder she had been staring intently at. She knew she shouldn't be looking at it, that Cho was more than capable of finding out who Zoë Tamm's killer was without her input, but she couldn't help it. Pregnancy didn't make her an invalid and it certainly didn't make her incompetent when it came to work. Of course, Jane didn't quite see eye to eye with her on that front. As far as he was concerned, she was pregnant with their first child and due to give birth any day now. That meant the only thing she should be worrying about were baby names and the labor. However, she had already been off work for over two weeks and was going stir crazy. If nothing happened imminently, she knew she would be more than willing to head straight back into work and continue looking at paper trails until she needed to go to the hospital.

It wasn't just that she wanted to remain mentally stimulated, but it was also because she was going to return to work in the same position. She wanted desperately to stay in contact with the rest of her team and make sure she was up to date with any cases that they had. And besides, she was craving company. At work there was always somebody to see, something to do but right now, all she had was the dog. While she absolutely doted upon Poppy, it didn't mean she could provide Lisbon with all her social requirements for the day. She hadn't even been expecting Jane back at this hour of the day, hence the reason why she had been taking a sneak peek at the case files. With a sigh, she quickly decided it was a fair exchange and that she'd take lunch with her husband over photographs of a dead body any day.

"I got bored."

"You should be resting."

"But…"

"You're due to give birth…"

"Not for another two weeks!"

"Which means it can happen at any time now," Jane answered, clearly worried about her and their baby. "You need to relax. Things will get a lot more stressful once she…"

"Or he…"

"She finally arrives," he finished, unconcerned about her correction. "Now what do you want to eat?"

"I don't know, I'm not really…"

"Teresa…"

"Fine. A sandwich then."

Jane smiled briefly as he walked through to the kitchen. It didn't take somebody with the skills of observation that he had to work out that she was making sure Van Pelt was regularly delivering case files to their door. The rookie was the most easily persuaded out of the team and Lisbon had probably threatened her with all manner of things just to make sure she was kept in the loop. That was half the reason he came home for lunch; she would probably have gotten lost in the paperwork and forgotten to eat otherwise. It didn't matter that he knew the moment he set foot out of the door, she would start perusing the Tamm case again. At least now he was guaranteeing she would get a break from work and he got to check that she was okay. The baby hadn't even been born yet and he was already turning into an overprotective father.

He grinned as he placed a cheese sandwich in front of her, knowing full well that neither of them would have it any other way.

_Two hours later_

"Come _on_, Patrick."

"Let me just…"

"I don't like the idea of giving birth in the car."

"I know, but…"

All thoughts of food and cases had long since left her mind. Even the Red John dilemma had been pushed to the background and that was something that had been troubling her for far too long. She started to tap her left foot in irritation before having to lean against Jane's Citroen as a wave of pain took over her body. Jane had almost been triumphant when she'd announced rather shakily that her waters had broken and he had immediately blamed the paperwork for it, before remembering that she actually needed his help. Still, they had both been grateful and somewhat relieved that he had been there at all. Things could have turned out rather differently if he hadn't, especially as the baby seemed determined to arrive slightly earlier than expected and they were both more than a little concerned about it. Eventually, she brought her breathing back under control just as he turned up beside her, grinning like a madman. Lisbon wished his excitement could be infectious. However, she knew that things were going to get a lot worse for her before they got better, so she found herself growing apprehensive instead. It didn't help that they were traveling to the hospital in Jane's car either. She already knew she would never forgive him if it broke down halfway there and she had to deliver their child on the freeway.

"What were you doing?" she queried breathlessly, glad to finally have him back by her side.

"Leaving a note for Mr. Peters telling him to pick up Poppy as soon as he's back from his daughter's place."

"Oh."

"You okay?"

She nodded briefly, relieved that there were finally able to leave. Just because the contractions were still irregular, it didn't mean she wasn't feeling rather agitated. This was the first time she'd done this and already, she didn't particularly like the idea of doing it again. Jane, however, smiled as he drove sedately, glancing over at his wife every so often. He didn't like seeing her suffering from the waves of pain, but knew it was unavoidable and that when they reached the hospital, she would be able to have some specialized pain treatment. It was also obvious she'd been worrying about this moment for quite some time and he'd done his best to comfort her in the months leading up to it, though his efforts hadn't been of much use. While pregnant, she was more stubborn and edgy than ever, but at least it hadn't affected her organizational skills. Jane took solace in the fact that when they were back home, there would be three of them and finally, they would have their daughter (or son). He absolutely could not wait and though it was clear Lisbon was still somewhat apprehensive about becoming a mother imminently. Though, as far as he was concerned, they had made the right decision. Expanding their family seemed like the perfect idea to him and he was more than ready for this next step in their lives.

He made a note to ring the team and let them know what was going on when they arrived at the hospital. If he didn't, they would begin wondering why the hell he hadn't made it back into work. Minelli too. The man seemed almost as excited as he was at the concept of becoming an ersatz grandfather as Jane was at becoming a father and would be as desperate to know as the rest of their colleagues. Their boss had regularly checked up on how the pregnancy was progressing and didn't even seem to mind that it had taken one of his favorite agents out of the field. The nursery alone was evidence enough of just how seriously Minelli took his new role in their lives. He seemed to believe that as neither of their parents had lived to see their grandchild, somebody just had to step into their shoes.

Jane let out a sigh. Not long to go now.

_Ten Hours Later_

He had been sent out of the private suite over five hours ago and still, he heard next to nothing since. Lisbon had agreed that she wanted him present at the birth months ago, but nothing ever went to plan. A nurse had shooed him out when she was looking particularly ill, exclaiming that he was simply in the way and they needed the space that he had previously been occupied. Though it broke his heart to leave her in such a state, he didn't fancy picking a fight with one of the medical professionals, who was meant to be helping her, and instead, left without another word. He glanced up and Van Pelt smiled at him weakly. She had arrived a couple of hours ago, shortly after the working day had officially ended and was the one who had to deal with Jane's flurries of panic and attempt to get him to sit down instead of wearing a hole in the linoleum.

He wasn't sure whether or not he appreciated her presence, though knew she was far better company than either Rigsby or Cho would have been. Were things going differently, he was certain he would have wanted her there and the others as well. The birth of a child was meant to be a joyful occasion, something that you wanted to share with friends and family. Instead, he was stuck in a drafty corridor, where nobody was telling them anything and it was driving him insane with worry. The red head couldn't even think of anything constructive to say and instead, had remained mute. Both of them knew most words in a situation like this sounded meaningless. Until a medical professional actually remembered they were there, nothing would calm them down.

Just five minutes later, a man walked out of the room, pulling off a pair of latex gloves and glancing from side to side. When his eyes settled on Jane in recognition, he didn't smile and instead strode towards him. Jane stood immediately, relieved that somebody had finally decided that it was a good idea to actually remain in contact with him. Van Pelt stood too, keen to show some solidarity before the man cleared his throat to speak.

"Mr. Jane?"

"Yes? What's happening?"

"You are Teresa's next of kin, yes?"

He nodded briefly and he shivered involuntarily. The man standing before him looked nervous, his fingertips twitching every so often and eyes refusing to focus on him. That meant only one thing: bad news. Besides, if the baby had been born and both of them were healthy, he would have cut straight to the chase and announced the gender by now. Jane swallowed deeply, preparing himself for the blow. If they didn't get through this alive, he didn't know what he would do with himself. After all, he was the one that had talked her around, convinced her to have the child. If she died, that essentially meant it was her, their, blood on his hands.

"There have been some complications," the midwife stated to which Jane rolled his eyes. That much was obvious. "Uterine rupture. It's a very dangerous…"

"Get to the point," Jane snapped. He wasn't a medic, he didn't care about the details.

"We need to operate on your wife."

"Right."

"This condition is life-threatening to both your wife and unborn child, Mr. Jane. If you don't agree to the surgery, they will both die," the doctor announced. "It's their only hope now."

"I said fine," he snapped, angry that the man was wasting time talking to him. "Do whatever you need to. Just make sure you save them."

**TBC…**


	22. Why Are You So Tired?

**A/N: **Wow. Two updates of this in a month, you can't say I don't spoil you. Well I suppose you can considering I've been writing this beast for nearly a year and still haven't finished it. The end is getting ever so slightly closer though. Hooray!

Thank you to: autumnftw, Jisbon4ever, forthecoast, LSR-7, Divinia Serit and Koezh for reviewing part twenty one. Also to lil smiles for being a super fast beta. You rock. Pop says so. :p

And ugh, choosing the dialogue for the chapter title was strangely hard this time around. Oh well.

x tromana

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**Part Twenty Two - Why Are You So Tired?**

Van Pelt glanced at her cell phone quickly and snapped it back shut again. Then, she looked over at Jane. Unsurprisingly, he held his head in his hands, a position he'd taken to hours ago. The poor man looked as though he was carrying the weight of the world on his back. The red head stood and allowed her hand to brush up against his upper arm and he stared back up at her. Tears were already gathering in his eyes despite the fact they hadn't heard anything either way. Carefully, she took his hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze. He gripped it back as if his life depended on it. For a good two hours, they had been deserted in this pitiful waiting room with only plastic chairs and a few dog-eared magazines for company. Nobody had bothered to keep them updated. Van Pelt wasn't sure whether or not she could classify no news as being good news. At least they hadn't heard that they'd…

She stopped that trail of thought immediately and shook her head. Her boss would be fine. The baby would be fine. Everything would be… fine. They just didn't want to feed them false information and risk lawsuits. That was all.

Regardless, however much she wanted to stay and let Jane continue to cling onto her hand, she couldn't. The world didn't stop just because people she'd grown to see as a second family had issues and she wanted to be there to support them. People certainly didn't murder one another on a schedule. Cho seemed apologetic in his text message, like he didn't want to pull her away from the hospital to a crime scene. However they both knew there was nothing she could do about it. She had to go. Work came first. Besides, if she were in any state to tell her, Van Pelt had a feeling that Lisbon would demand she went into work. She could practically hear the older woman's irate tone stating that she was of no importance and that she better hurry to the crime scene or she'd be on stakeout duty for a month.

"Jane?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to go. We got a case."

"Right."

"Call me when you hear something," she continued, staring imploringly at him. "My cell phone is always on. I'll be back as soon as we're done at the crime scene."

"Yeah, I know. You better hurry. Cho'll wonder where you've got to."

"Call me," she repeated.

Jane nodded. Relieved that she was actually going to be kept in the loop, Van Pelt finally left. With a sigh, Jane laid down, sprawling across three of the plastic chairs. It was horribly uncomfortable, with the edges digging into his side, but he didn't know what else to do. He was beside himself with worry and didn't even have Van Pelt to talk to anymore. Not that they'd been doing much talking. But still, her presence had been a comfort, of sorts. He'd felt less lonely, at any rate. Jane closed his eyes, if only to block out the harsh glow emitted from the strip lights on the ceiling.

When he opened his eyes again, it was still dark. He glanced at his watch, still laying in his horribly uncomfortable position. Only three hours had passed since Van Pelt had left. As footsteps approached, he swiftly sat to make himself more presentable. When the door swung open only to reveal another harried relative, destined to be deserted in this soulless room, he laid back down again. Having the company of somebody he knew was one thing, but having a stranger stare at him in his hour of need was another entirely. Jane screwed his eyes tightly shut. Hopefully this teenage girl would just leave him alone rather than start bothering him. Or preferably, the midwife would come and take him away to see his wife and child. Something had to have happened by now.

"I know you."

He made an incoherent noise as the girl spoke to him and covered his face. If she didn't take the hint, he wasn't quite sure what he would do.

"You're Patrick Jane."

"And?" he snapped back with a scowl. "I'm sorry, but I don't really have the time…"

"I saw you on the television. You're a psychic."

"Yeah."

"I'm scared, Mr. Jane," she murmured. "My Mom… if she and the baby don't… I don't know what me and Andy will do…"

Jane sat up and gave his chatty companion a quick glance over. Despite the fact she was confident enough to talk to him, she was as scared as she'd just admitted to him. Her fingers continually raked through her long brown hair and her left foot twitched every so often. As far as he could tell, there was no father, otherwise he'd have been here instead and she would have been at a grandparent's house. A car accident, he assumed. Most people weren't that comfortable in hospitals, but this girl, whoever she was, took it to the extreme. Like the only thing she associated with the building was death.

"Problematic birth? The baby went breach?"

"Yeah," she answered, slightly in awe. "And the doctor said…"

"Listen to me," he whispered and took hold of her hands. "Your Mom will be fine. So will the baby."

"Did… did Dad tell you…?"

Just as Jane was about to answer her, the midwife walked in and he was at his feet, standing in front of the medic. It was about time as well. Instead of giving the doctor an earful, he held his tongue. The man was here now and there was no point in taking his frustrations out on him. He knew Lisbon would have been proud of him; normally she expected him to wreak havoc in such an occasion. However, contrary to popular belief, he did know how to behave. Sometimes.

"Congratulations, you have a healthy baby girl."

The man held out a hand and Jane shook it firmly.

"A daughter," he mouthed as if it was the most incredible thing on Earth. "She's healthy and… and Teresa…?"

"Recovering. It'll be a short while until she's ready for visitors," he announced primly and though disappointed, Jane nodded in response. "I can take you to visit your daughter now."

"I'd like that, thank you."

"Well, congratulations, Mr. Jane… I guess I'll just wait here."

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Susie."

He opened his wallet, suddenly feeling very generous. After all, he did have something to celebrate now. All of his anger at the situation had completely dissipated, now he knew they had both survived and that everything was going to be okay. He pulled out a dollar bill and handed it to Susie, who stared at it, completely bemused.

"Get yourself some candy. Everything will be okay, I promise."

It felt like it took forever for them to reach the nursery. During the brief walk, the medic filled Jane in on the details of the birth. How Lisbon had had to undergo a hysterectomy due to complete uterine rupture and how it was a miracle that they both survived. Jane hung onto his every word as the man started to describe his daughter, telling him details such as birth weight and time of birth. Eventually, they arrived at the side of an incubator. Jane stared down at the small child, enraptured by the sight of her breathing in her sleep. A pang of guilt washed through him; this shouldn't have been the way he was introduced to his baby. Lisbon should have been with him. He should have been with her.

Still. He was a father and the tiny girl laying in front of him was entirely reliant on him and Lisbon. The little girl, who looked just like a baby version of her mother… with his nose, the poor thing.

"Why the incubator?"

"Stressful birth. And she was slightly on the light side. It's just a precaution."

They fell into silence and when the doctor told him he was able to go and visit his wife, he felt rather reluctant to leave. It was hardly surprising; he found the baby completely fascinating. They needed to name her soon. Of course, he had a few ideas, but nothing concrete. Really, he needed to talk to Lisbon about it and he did want to see his wife. To receive confirmation that she was alive and well. Shortly before they entered her private room, the doctor warned him that she was still unconscious and that the technology monitoring her was very sensitive. Jane suppressed an eye roll. As if he was going to touch the machinery that was aiding his wife. He wasn't that kind of a man.

When he saw her, she looked terribly small. That wasn't something he usually associated with Lisbon and it made him feel slightly ill. Still, as soon as the doctor had disappeared, he pulled a chair up beside the bed. Gently, he lifted her right hand and brought it to his lips. The sooner she woke up, the better. Yawning expansively, Jane placed his head down on the bed. Though he'd napped briefly earlier, the events of the day were beginning to catch up with him.

"Why are _you_ so tired?"

Jane jolted from his sleep as Lisbon ran a lazy hand through his mop of curls. He grinned at her and she smiled tiredly back.

"How are you?"

"Sore."

"You've been through a lot."

Cupping her face in his hands, Jane placed a chaste kiss on her lips. He pulled back quickly and proceeded to tell her everything that had happened. It was a relief that she didn't take the news too badly. Jane had expected her to be more shaken up by the concept of not being able to have more children. Then again, Lisbon had always been rather pragmatic and understood that the procedure was a necessity.

"How's the baby? Did it…"

"She's fine," he whispered quickly and kissed her gently on the nose. "She's absolutely perfect and she looks just like you."

"She?"

"Yeah."

"Mmm… you were right then."

"I _did_ tell you we were having a girl."

"I know."

"What do you think she should be called?"

"Sarah. Because she'll always be her Daddy's little princess."

Lisbon winced. That was quite possibly the most cheesy thing he'd come up with for a long while.

"Uh, I'll take that as a no then," Jane continued swiftly. "Felicia. Lysha for short."

"And what cringe worthy reason do you have behind that one?"

"She's lucky to be here."

"And that's what it means, I assume."

"Yeah."

"Does she look like a Lysha?"

"I think so."

"I'll have to take your word for it."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Patrick. A little sore, perhaps but…"

Jane stroked her hand gently. Trust her to lose the meaning. He didn't blame her though. The past twenty four hours had been draining, more so for her than himself. Just so long as she believed it was all worth it, it didn't matter. It didn't matter that she was now conscious and in good spirits, they weren't quite out of the woods yet.

"No, I meant…" he trailed off and took a deep breath. "No more children."

"We have one, that's more than many people," she answered quickly, meaning every word. "And besides, should we want a sibling for Lysha, we could always adopt."

"It's not always that easy though."

"I know."

"Anyway, you need to sleep." Lisbon opened her mouth to retort, but Jane silenced her. "I mean it. If you're good, I'll get them to bring in our daughter so you can meet her."

**TBC…**


	23. That's Not Fair

**A/N:** I'm sorry, I've been so lazy with updating. Truth is I'm almost completely blocked on both this and Verdigris. I just dislike both fics. This means I'm cutting this story down significantly. It's only going to have 2, maybe 3 more chapters tops, with the (currently slim) possibility of a sequel, if I ever feel the need to revisit where this will be left off. Also, I've been working on my Big Bang fic, which won't be posted until the New Year.

Anyway, enough rambling. Thank you to: JelloFanatic123, autumnftw, LSR-7, Koezh, Jisbon4ever and kate tidly for reviewing part twenty four. Also to lil smiles for betaing.

For Twin, for reminding me to actually update as this has been sitting on my hard drive for a week or so.

x tromana

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**Part Twenty Three - That's Not Fair**

_Two and a half years later_

"Tea!"

Lisbon paused at the door, her hand hovering just over the handle as she heard her husband call out his pet name for her. She spun on her heels to see Jane charging at her, rattling a tub of pills and carrying a glass of water.

"What… oh. Medication."

"You know it's important not to forget. We don't want a repeat of six months ago."

With a sigh, she nodded and accepted the pills from Jane. They were a necessary, but arduous, part of her life now. Unfortunately, she had a habit of losing track on occasion; they just weren't something she found easy to keep track of what with having to balance home life with work. Grudgingly, she swallowed two before handing them back to him. He smiled brightly, placed everything down on the side and enveloped her into a crushing hug.

"Are you sure you're well enough to go to work? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, Patrick. Honestly."

"Okay, okay, I believe you."

She stared directly into his eyes and knew he was lying. It didn't stop her from being relieved that he was willing to let the matter drop though. Just because she wasn't feeling one hundred percent, it didn't mean she wasn't capable of working.

"You sure you're okay staying here with Lysha? We could always ask…."

"I'll be fine," he interrupted. "I'm sure she'll charm Mrs. Andrews before I even have a chance to work my magic."

Lisbon narrowed her eyes. She didn't much like the idea of Jane being distracted from their daughter by a client. Felicia had hit the terrible twos with a vengeance and was sometimes more tornado than little girl. Knowing their luck, their daughter would probably choose to ransack the house during the brief hour when Jane would be distracted by work.

"Do you have to see her? Can't you just postpone until…"

"I can't, you know that," he interrupted, placing a feather-light kiss on the tip of her nose, as if that would make things better. "It'd be unprofessional and rude."

"Yeah, because pretending you're a psychic in contact with her deceased husband is such an _honorable_ way to fleece an old woman out of her life's savings."

"Teresa…"

"No, Patrick. I don't understand why you can't just come and work at the CBI. Put your talents to some _real_ use instead of lying to people all the time. I'll be back later. Bye."

Jane watched as she stalked away, having somewhat expected her short outburst. She still didn't feel comfortable with what he did for a living and part of him wasn't sure she ever would be. It wasn't surprising that she was still so resistant of his career. She'd accepted it for a while; it took her longer than expected to get back on her feet again post-pregnancy and it was only now that she was beginning to feel strong enough to fight everything in her path once more. That meant she had started fighting his career as a psychic. It was obvious that his increasing popularity unnerved her. She was torn between worrying that he'd leave her and their baby for a pretty young thing or that it might start influencing the CBI. The last thing she wanted - or needed - was hoards of rabid fans hanging around headquarters to try and get a glimpse of the 'gory' side of his work or worse, an autograph and photograph opportunities, for that matter.

Poppy looked up at him inquisitively and automatically, Jane gently rubbed the dog's ear. The golden retriever wagged her tail enthusiastically. Despite being a senior citizen for her species, she was still full of life and had taken to the child exceptionally well.

"C'mon, Pop. Let's go see if Lysh is ready for some breakfast."

xxx

Lisbon mumbled under her breath angrily as she parked. Jane was refusing to listen again. Now she was back to working full time, there was absolutely no need for him to carry on working as a psychic. With him consulting for the CBI and herself as lead agent, they wouldn't have any money problems. He would also have more time to spend on their daughter rather than having to waste cash on an overpriced babysitter. It was a win all round. However, he was almost addicted to the buzz of showmanship and she knew it. If he wasn't careful, the whole thing could come crashing down around his ears and she didn't really want to think about the potential repercussions. In a way, his career choice was almost as dangerous as hers, just for very different reasons.

"Boss?"

"Yes, Cho?"

"You look like crap."

Lisbon smirked into her mug of coffee and sipped at it. Cho was never one to butter up his opinions and she liked that about him. Always direct and straight to the point.

"We have a case. Red John."

"Pardon?"

She had been listening, she just wanted to check she wasn't hearing things. Red John had virtually disappeared off the radar for the past three years or so. Lisbon knew Cho wouldn't lie to her. This specific case was important to both of them, despite the fact that it had been a cold case for quite some time. It had bothered them both, especially Lisbon. She hated failing and as Red John had been responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people already, she was desperate to bring him to justice. If only to give the relatives of the victims the closure they deserved.

They traveled to the crime scene in a moody silence. Van Pelt, the least experienced member of the team, had only been present at one Red John crime scene prior to his hiatus. Though she understood the irritation of a murderer slipping through their fingers all too well, she didn't quite understand the importance of this specific serial killer. She just hadn't been around them when he was such a threat before. When she saw the painted smiley face on the wall, she thought she understood. It didn't help either, when she looked down and saw the two bodies. A young brunette woman and her daughter, barely a year old. How could somebody mercilessly slaughter an innocent child? Her boss looked dour, and justifiably so. Cho and Rigsby were wearing matching grim expressions as they picked through the girls' belongings.

"Boss?"

Van Pelt was apprehensive as she picked up the piece of paper with a gloved hand. She wasn't quite sure what drew her attention to it, except for the couple of spatters of blood decorating it. When she had seen what was written on the other side, her blood ran cold. Lisbon needed to know about it and immediately.

_To my dear Agent Lisbon,_

_I have missed you so. Been rather quiet of late, though you know that all too well. That was planned, my dear. I thought it unfair for you to have to cope with recovering from such a traumatic experience of childbirth as well as trying to find me. Now you're better, back to being the worthy adversary that you are, I'm back._

_And now the gloves are off._

_You made my life hell once. Consider this payback._

"You okay?" the red head asked quietly as Lisbon opened an evidence bag and placed it inside neatly. "You're shaking."

"I'm fine, Van Pelt."

"What happened?"

It was Rigsby who piped up, closing the distance between them with two long strides. Van Pelt opened her mouth to talk, but Lisbon cut in, immediately stating that everything was fine. Rigsby stared at her skeptically, but knew that she wouldn't elaborate, however hard he tried. Whenever Lisbon decided to clam up about something, it was almost impossible to get her to open up unless you were her husband. As Jane wasn't present, Rigsby knew they had no hope.

"I'll tell you later," Van Pelt mouthed and he nodded. It was better than being left in the dark, after all.

xxx

"How was work?"

"Fine."

"If I believed that, I'd believe anything."

"Damn it, Patrick, just leave me alone," she snapped as he tried to wind an arm around her waist. "I'm not in the mood."

"You never are. Now, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You've said that before and I didn't believe you then."

"Where's Lysh?"

"In bed."

"At this time of day?"

"Yes, she's coming down with a cold."

"Great, just what I need."

Jane glowered at Lisbon. He may have been practicing as a psychic, but it didn't mean he could actually read her mind. From the moment she had walked through the front door, she had been fractious, ready to pick a fight with him. It seemed that work had only made her mood intensive and yet, she was being as cagey as ever.

"Teresa, just talk to me. I can't work out what's wrong if-"

"Yeah, but you can solve all your client's woes, can't you? Just tell them stuff they already know deep down and they'll pay-"

"That's not fair."

"And neither is a serial killer getting away with murder!"

"Red John?"

"Yes, Red John."

They fell into an uneasy silence. Both of them had always known that Red John wouldn't stay silent forever - it just didn't fit with what they knew about the man's character. Though, Jane had fallen into a sort of complacency. Because the serial killer had disappeared, it had become all too easy to focus on everything else instead. Just as Jane was about to speak, he was interrupted by the shrill tones of Lisbon's cell phone. With a frustrated growl, she dug it out of her pocket to answer. This was the last thing she needed right now.

"Lisbon," she answered shortly, holding up a hand to silence Jane.

"Red John has struck again," Cho announced over the phone. "Can you get here in fifteen minutes? Minelli wants Jane too, if you can get a babysitter."

"Sure," she sighed, "we're on our way."

**TBC…**


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